The Prince and His Pet
by Phoenix of Starlight
Summary: Young Prince Bel watches a little tadpole grow into a frog. AU, Multi-chap. Something like 'The Princess and the Frog'. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1: Found a Froggy

Pairing/Characters: Bel-Fran Plot: Long version of the 'Prince and the Frog' using a longer period of time in which Bel watches a tadpole grow into a frog.  
>Rating: T (to be safe)<br>Genre: Romance Style: Multi-chap, AU, Third person Limited- Alternating Title: The Prince and His Pet Word Limit: 25000The Prince and his Pet

Every BelFran author needs to write at least one 'The Prince and the Frog' fanfic, right?

I'm just rolling through all my ideas here~, and I am glad to have recieved many reviews for A Royal Spring. Now you may be wondering, 'Why isn't she working on it right now?'  
>It's because I'm mean, and like to tease my readers. Bad habit, I sorry.<br>This is going to be my next chapter fanfiction, since I've finished Viper or Mammon. The 'A Royal-' series will be continuing for a looooooong time.  
>Also, has anyone noticed the information I put at the top of my fanfictions? If anyone has any oneshot ideas or good multi-chap ideas that they would like for me to write about, I'm open to any of them, so long as that information is provided. Well... at least the category, plot and characters. XD<p>

If you've read my other fanfictions, see if you can pick out what I'm doing more in this one.

Writing in 3 2 1

NOW!

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><p>8:26 AM<p>

Angered by his brother's most recent attempts to prove himself the better prince, Belphegor walked decisively out of the palace. He headed into the forest, taking the crown off his head and dropping it in the damp, spring-green grass so that it wouldn't get damaged should he get into any trouble. Trouble, after all, was surfacing more often lately.

"That stupid shadow of mine," he growled, kicking a rock so that it shot into the air, shooting a couple leaves off of their branch before it landed back onto the ground. Bel strided further into the unknown territory, a frown ruining his mischievous appearance.

Tromp-tromp tromp-tromp

The sound of his boots was the only thing that echoed through the forest, and it matched the thudding of his hearbeat, which rang out from his embarassment and anger.

Crit...crit...crit...crit...

Other sounds began to start up, first the sound of a cricket, then the twit-twee-twit-twee of birds in the trees.

Tap...tap-tap...tap...tap-tap...

A woodpecker aligned itself in the rhythm.

Suddenly-

Psshhh...

Bel stopped. 'A creek?'

He walked further, hands finding themselves slipping shyly into his pockets. He came across a small brook that branched off into a still, deep blue pond. Bel found a couple rocks that were placed around the pond, a few just big enough for him to sit on. He stepped onto one, then the next, then onto the one closest to the pond. He crouched down, using only his fingertips to balance himself in the position with his heels off the ground and his knees tucked to his chest, and looked carefully into the pond. Seeing that there were many more plants in there than he'd originally guessed, he eased himself down onto his side, though he was still sitting up. (A/N: Girl-sitting-in-a-skirt pose if you still don't get it.)

The young prince carefully leaned down closer to the water and dipped his cupped hand into it, bringing up a slightly murky handful of water when he returned it. His eyes widened with suprise as he noticed the small, wriggling, black creature that he'd also scooped up, and he carefully set it back into the water. He began to lie down on his stomach, curled his legs a bit towards his back, and folded his arms, resting his head on top of them.

He gazed into the pond and was suprised to find that there were many of the swimming, black animals in the pond. He wondered what they were- for he hadn't seen anything like them before. He was able to recognize the one he had accidentally picked up, it was much smaller than the rest.

Suddenly, he heard a splash and looked up, then was suprised to see a sleek, green frog swimming over to the shallow water in which the young, black creatures were. Of course, Bel knew what a frog was, but tadpoles were new to him. For one silly moment, the prince worried that the frog would eat the smaller animals, but, of course, a mother woudn't eat her offspring. ... Most of the time.

Bel breathed out with relief when the frog just crawled up onto a lily pad beside the area where the black creatures where. He reached a finger down and touched the surface of the water, causing small ripple to break the surface of the water and just barely buffet the lily pad that the mother frog sat on. The tadpoles, curious, began to swim up towards his outstretched finger, but recoiled at the slightest move. Even so, that small one... it didn't back away, it just stayed there, content to be the bravest one.

Fran's POV

What a strange thing! Whatever it was that had picked him up earlier, it hadn't left once his mother had come. Then again, no other being was quite as big at it. And it had the nerve to touch the waters. His brothers were very scared of it, but he was curious of the other. What was it? Why was it so intrusive? What had compelled it to come here?

Bel's POV

The smallest one began to nudge his finger as if saying, 'Hey, move, you don't belong here.' Bel agreed- he didn't belong out here. However, he had to stay away from Rasiel- at least for today. What idiot gave Jill a knife anyway?

Bel looked at the green frog on the lily pad, because it had suddenly began 'kero'-ing wildly. Bel retracted his finger from the pond, thinking that somehow he'd pissed it off. It leapt into the pond, just barely splashing the young prince, before it swam over to the tadpole and seemed to scold it. Bel understood the relationship at last- though he had no idea why the offspring of the frog looked so different. "Froggy," he said with a grin as he watched the small tadpole, "You're name is Froggy."

-End Chapter One

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><p>Well? Like? Dislike? Should I continue? Gonna leave a review for me?<p>

I accept anonymous reviews, once again.  
>And I am really not kidding. Reviews ARE the greatest inspiration an author may have. Even if I'm on spring break, doesn't neccessarily mean I'll be on the couch every day for the readers, unless I get enough reviews to motivate me. Otherwise, I'll be almost as slow as I am normally.<p>

So, on that note, PLEASE REVIEW! IT MAKES MY WORLD GO AROUND~!


	2. Chapter 2: A Save and A Scolding

The Prince and His Pet Here's chapter two!

Ooooookay! I'm glad this and A Royal Spring seems to have brought me more readers, but I hope those of you who are reading the 'A Royal-' series have read 'A Royal Meeting', then 'A Royal Winter' before 'A Royal Spring'.  
>However, maybe you've just decided to read this one, and have no intrest in my 'A Royal-' series. I understand. ... Sort of. Welcome, new readers! I only posted chapter one this morning so I'm suprised... but it's a good suprise~ But anyway, I have another chapter to write... so...<br>3 2 1 WRITING NOW!

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><p>Fran's POV<p>

He felt somewhat bad that he'd scared his mother, but he still couldn't shake his curiosity. He wanted to know what it was that he'd encountered yesterday: what it was that had picked him up, and why it was so bad to get close to it.

Bel's POV

The young prince was sitting up in his bed, looking over at the bed on the other side of the room. 'Jill...' He slowly slid himself out of the bed and walked towards the door, giving one last look at the other prince before he opened it to leave. Bel snuck through the halls silently, hoping neither of his parents found him. Luckily, before long, he had stepped outside. He grinned happily, took off his ever-present crown and tucked it into a patch of tall grass before running off into the forest. He wasn't as dressed up as he was the previous day; instead, today, he was dressed only in a striped t-shirt and black pants. He hadn't even put on a jacket or shoes- they would only slow him down.

He sprinted into the forest, navigating through the trees as though it was an everyday thing for him. And he hoped it would become one too. He came to the creek that pooled into a pond at its side and slowed down to leap across the rocks. But when he stepped onto one, he suddenly winced with pain and shifted his weight to his other foot as he lifted the first up. He was greatly disappointed to see that he'd gone and stepped on a thorn that a bird must've knocked off of a bush. He sat down carefully and looked at it. It wasn't too deep. He cautiously moved his hand to it, closed his eyes, and pulled it out. A flash of pain hit him from the action, but he was glad to have it out.

A drop of blood slipped out of the wound, but the young prince ignored it, and settled instead for lying back down on his stomach as he had yesterday. He relaxed, ignoring the annoying sting in his foot, and brought his light, blue gaze to rest on the surface of the pond. The water was unusually still, where was the mother frog?

He suddenly saw the bright green amphibian swimming near the floor of the pond, kicking up tiny clouds of sediment with its hind legs. Bel smiled as he watched her, feeling as though he himself was close enough to interact with the animal. A small movement caught his eye, and he looked to see large tadpole swimming around also. 'Is Froggy out?' he asked himself, scanning the pond for other tadpoles. He couldn't find the smallest one. His eyes trailed back to the mother frog, and he soon realized what was wrong. The little guy's tail had been caught under a small, metallic fishing hook. Bel instantly wanted to help it, but was worried about the mother frog coming after him.

'Come on, Bel, it's a frog, you'll be fine,' he told himself, reaching a hand into the water. The frog swam away, probably out of fear. Bel carefully went up to the hook and just barely nudged it, causing it to move off of the tadpole's tail. The small creature darted out from under the hook, then began swimming normally. The young prince smiled as he pulled his hand back.

"You okay, Froggy?" he whispered, looking at the young animal that was racing around the pond, overjoyed to be free. The mother frog watched it for a moment before it kicked itself onto the lily pad to look up at Bel. The yellow, unblinking gaze was intimidating, but Bel, being a prince, could handle it.

"Kero," she seemed to thank him before she dove back into the pond. Bel's grin stretched into the cheshire grin that he often performed when pulling a prank or proving himself better than Rasiel, and he continued to watch the family.

Fran's POV

That was close. He could still feel the numbness in his tail where the big, heavy thing had lied. He came close to the surface of the water, looking at the distorted picture of the mysterious being out there. It had saved him... but why? With hazy, gray eyes, the young frog swam back down in the water, nuzzled the soft ground, and went to join his siblings hiding in the algae. As he took a nibble of the soft plant, he continued to wonder.  
>What was it that had taken such an intrest in him?<p>

Bel's POV

Belphegor was so glad that the tadpole was safe. He had been scared that the poor thing would've died. Why did he care so much about the tadpole anyway? Maybe his parents were right when they said, "Don't name the birds, you'll get attatched to them." That was years ago: when he was five, actually.

Now, he was thirteen, "just old enough to take the throne," said his father. So why was he still so drawn to the tadpole? It was just an animal, right?

Nighttime, Fran's POV

How could they all be asleep already? Weren't they worried about the thing that visited them? Didn't they think that it's odd for something so big to try and interact with them?

Even his mother was soundly asleep in a small cave of rocks that was partially submerged in the water, but more than halfway filled with air. He and his siblings couldn't get into that cave- it was too dangerous with the water level so low. Only when it rained could the tadpoles safely enter there. They were only four days old, though, so navigating around all the pebbles was a difficult task. Especially for Fran, since he was the smallest and most vulnerable one. Perhaps that was why he was always so eager to find out more about things. Because he was different.

Even his mother had told him in a series of croaks, "Everything about you is strange- Even those faint, light marks under your eyes. I don't understand... only you have them."

Same night, Bel's POV

"Where were you today?" asked the king, anger on his face. "You didn't come in until two! We thought you had ran away!"

"Oh, father, I wouldn't run away and let the throne go to that FAKE," Belphegor replied, pointing over his shoulder at Rasiel. The other prince grinned and replied,

"I am no fake, but you, my idiot brother, are nothing but a shadow."

Bel ignored his brother's remark and instead awaited for his father to speak. "Where were you?" the king asked, threat in his blood-red eyes.

"Me? Oh, father, you needn't know such miniscule things, you take care of a whole kingdom after all~," Bel tried to excuse himself.

"I need to know where an heir to my throne is," the king hissed.

"Answer your father, Bel," the queen cut in.

"Mm... I was hanging around in the forest," Bel admitted.

"The forest?" the king repeated, incredulous, "You shouldn't be wandering in there, what's the point?"

"Richard," Bel's mother cut in, putting a hand on the king's shoulder, "Calm down."

"But this is ridiculous!" the king roared. "My son, a prince, says that he was gone all day because he was playing in the forest!"

"I know, but a forest is an exciting place to a young boy," the queen told him.

"Usheshe, am I to understand that my darling secondborn brother is getting excited by wild animals? Man, you need a girlfriend," Rasiel breathed into Bel's ear from behind.

"Jill, don't be a pervert, that's not attractive at all," Belphegor returned at the same volume, locking his blue gaze to the blood-red eyes of his brother that matched their father's.

"I'm just teaching you," Jill said with a grin, "really, you should listen to your wise older brother's advice."

"I don't need to be taught by you, and you're barely older than me. Like, a few minutes older," Bel pointed out.

"That counts," Rasiel disagreed, before leaving for bed.

"Yeah, you run away," Bel hissed, quiet enough for his brother to not hear.

"Bel," the king called. The young prince looked back to him.

"What now?" he asked.

"Don't go back into that forest."

Bel felt his heart sink as his parents, too, headed back to go to sleep. 'But I can't just leave Froggy out there,' he thought sadly.

Flashback...

"Now listen, you two," said Elizabeth, the queen. "You can't go against your father's orders. This isn't just about his reputation, he is simply the king. If you two disobey him... well, depending on the degree of disobedience, you could get... well... just don't do it."

"What would happen, mama?" asked Rasiel, holding his brother's hand in slight anxiety. The queen hesitated, making the princes even more nervous.

"Bad things, Jill," she whispered. Bel and Jill looked at each other. They knew what she meant.

End Flashback.

Belphegor walked back into his and Rasiel's room and walked over to his bed, a frown on his face. Rasiel pulled the curtains of his own bed aside. "Well, you look upset. Is that forest really that cool?"

Bel crawled up onto his bed and looked at him. "Yeah, it is."

Rasiel cocked his head to the side in confusion and sat back on his bed. "Tell me about it."

Bel took a pillow and hugged it close to his chest, then rested his head on the top of it while he looked at Rasiel. "Well, at this time of year, all the trees have flowers on them. There's flower petals everywhere, and there's all sorts of birds singing in the trees."

"Singing?" questioned Jill, "You mean chirping."

"I suppose... but it sounds really nice, so I said singing," Bel says. "And then there's the other wild animals... there's squirrels and rabbits everywhere, but I don't pay as much attention to them as I do the frogs."

Rasiel wrinkled his nose. "Frogs?"

"Uh huh. I'm watching the baby frogs grow up," Bel said, smiling softly. Rasiel cheshire grinned.

"Shesheshe... They're called tadpoles, Bel. But why are you so intrested in them?" Jill asked, lying down and folding his arms behind his head.

"Why? I don't know," Bel said, also lying down, but he and his brother still gazed into each other's eyes. Making eye contact was the only way they could stay talking, because when one broke eye contact, the other would attack. It was a bad habit. "I named one."

"Usheshe, named... oh, brother, the things you do," Jill giggled.

"Me? Remember the time you wanted to go to the superbowl because you thought it was a fancy restoraunt? Ushishi! That was some sort of sport in America," Bel laughed. Rasiel laughed with him.

"Well they need to change the name of it!"

Bel liked the moments when he and his brother could talk sanely without fighting. It was nice, because neither of their parents nor anyone else could understand them like they did each other.

Midnight... Fran's POV

Fran swam out towards the creek, but wasn't able to get far because the current pushed him back. He hated being small. He hated being weak. And he wanted to show everyone that he was strong enough to fend for himself. But how to do that, he didn't know. He thought hard about it for a long time, and eventually came to a conclusion. 'I'll find a way to communicate with the wierd creature.'

-End Chapter Two

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><p>If you review about how much you hate me, I'll be inspired to do better, but I'll probably write slower out of depression. If you review about how much you love me or my story, I'll write much faster, but it might be a bit sloppy.<p>

So... your review?


	3. Chapter 3: Fight

The Prince and His Pet Chapter 3

WARNING- BEL-JILL VIOLENCE IN THIS CHAPTER.  
>Did anyone notice that I'm trying to pay more attention to detail in this story? No? Oh, then I must be failing. =A= Well, I hope this plot's good enough for you to keep reading!<p>

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><p>The next morning...<p>

"Bel. ... Oi, Bel!"

Bel felt hands on his arm, shaking him to get him awake. He didn't like that. His ice-blue eyes snapped open and he glared at his twin. "What, Jill."

The older prince bent down to Bel's eye level. "Let's go out to the forest," he whispered.

"Eh?"

"Yeah, it sounds like you're really liking it out there, I would like to see the place for myself," Rasiel told him. Bel sat up and looked at the clock fast enough to see the time, and quickly enough to not catch his brother's attention. As mentioned previously, dropping eye contact was a dangerous idea.

"Jill, it's five in the morning!" he protested in a hiss of a voice.

"All the more reason," said his brother, "because we won't get caught." Bel was suspicious of his brother, but the unusual curiosity that shone in those blood-red eyes made him slip into giving in.

"Okay, fine, but you'll have to listen to me," Bel said. Jill frowned in a 'why the hell would I do that?' sort of way, and folded his arms.

"I'm not about to do THAT, brother," he said darkly. Bel sighed and stood up, still maintaining eye contact.

"Don't do anything bad to the frogs, alright?" he suggested, "Just follow that one rule and I'll be fine." Jill considered, unsure, but soon nodded in agreement.

"Alright."

The two grinned simultaneously and broke the eye contact at the same time so neither was tempted, before walking out the door to their room and heading down the stairs. When they agreed on something, their trust and kindness towards each other was amazing, yet if they ever had a disagreement, it could become fierce enough for one of them to get terribly injured. It was a very strange, but strong bond.

When the two had snuck safely outside, Bel took off his crown and set it in the same place he had yesterday morning, and he looked up at Rasiel, resisting the faint urge to attack his brother when he didn't lock gazes with his twin.

Jill quickly looked back, recognizing the almost inaudible pause in his brother's breathing. "Sorry," he apologized, hesitantly taking off his own crown, "why are we doing this?"

"So that they don't get dirty or slow us down," Bel told him.

"Alright...?" Jill said unsurely, placing his crown next to Bel's. Bel began walking off towards the forest, not bothering to put on any shoes, same as the previous day. Rasiel reluctantly followed suit, thinking since his brother had done this before it would be best to do as he did.

Bel's pace increased significantly as he approached the forest, as though he was very eager to get back to the tadpoles. This confused Rasiel, but he knew that he and his brother were both rather odd, so he put up with it.

Fran's POV

He waited calmly for the being, less than an inch from the surface of the water. 'It has to appear soon...'

"Fran."

Fran looked to his side. 'Yes, mother?' he wanted to say.

"Stop this. It's dangerous. You'll get hurt," she croaked at him.

Fran felt the paddle of his tail slow with disappointment.

'But I want to see it again, I want to talk to it.'

"Oh, Fran!" the stressed mother frog croaked, "Why are you so... so...! So different!" With that, she swam away.

'Is it really that bad?' Fran thought. Suddenly, he saw movement above the surface of the water, and saw a bright light penetrate through the pond.

Bel's POV

"Jill, be careful with that flashlight," Bel protested, moving around his brother to look into the pond. To his suprise, Froggy seemed to be waiting for him. He was close to the edge of the pond, tilted at an angle where he could've been watching for the prince. Bel smiled at the tadpole as his brother sat down beside him.

"This one's yours?" Jill asked, head on his hands.

"Yeah," Bel said, "Named him Froggy."

"How original," Jill joked, poking his brother in the side.

"Stop that," Bel mumbled, not tearing his eyes away from the black creature in the pond.

Fran's POV

They were so close now, he wanted to try and talk to it. What was it? Who was it?

Suddenly, the creature dipped a long claw into the water, but didn't make a move to grab him. What did it want now?

Bel's POV

"Come on, Froggy," Bel coaxed, his hand submerged in the pond. "Over here~"

"Sheshe, Bel~," Jill whispered, prodding his twin again, "so was I right earlier?"

"About what?" hummed Bel, hardly paying attention to the other.

"About you trying to flirt with wild animals. Sure looks like it, shesheshe~"

"Jill," protested Bel, looking up at his brother with irritation. Their eyes didn't meet, though. Jill's back was turned. Bel found himself reaching for a rock in the water.

Fran's POV

It picked up a large pebble in it's hand, then retracted from the water. What was going to happen? Fran couldn't stop thinking about it. He watched the blurry figure draw the rock from the water, and get positioned to... throw it?

Bel's POV

He knew it was a mistake the second it happened, he'd barely hit his brother, but it was enough for Jill to turn on him. The princes began to fight. "You stupid brother, of course you're gonna try and attack me the moment my guard is down."

"You should've looked over at me," Bel argued, throwing a punch at his brother. Jill dodged and returned the blow to Bel's stomach, causing the other prince to gasp with pain.

"Oh? I was trying to keep the peace while YOU were focused on your little animal friend!" Rasiel snarled. Bel was in a bad position- his brother had always had that ounce more of power that kept him on top.

But the younger twin wasn't anywhere close to giving into his brother. He aimed another punch to the other's head, but that, too, was dodged. Jill scrambled to his feet and leapt away from the pond, then picked up a fallen tree branch that, to him, acted as a sword. "Usheshe! What do you say we settle this once and for all?" he shouted to Bel.

"All for it, Jill!" Bel agreed, picking up another branch. The two sparred for a while, Rasiel making almost all the offensive moves, Bel dodging and blocking to the best he could. But then-

SNAP.

Bel's branch had snapped from all the blocking, and he stumbled backwards with the next clumsy attempt at evading an attack, leaving him face-to-face with the tip of Rasiel's 'blade'.

"Jill, you wouldn't," Bel said with a crazy grin, quivering slightly with suprise. "I would," Rasiel hissed at him. "I've had enough of you."

"Ji-"

"Kero!"

Talk about ruining the moment. The mother frog landed on Bel's head, looking almost like a mother who was about to lose their son in a fight. Well, not too far off.

Rasiel paused, and started chuckling darkly under his breath. "Bel, you are an ANIMAL," he laughed, "How about this? How about you stay out here with your little Froggy friends and I go back to the palace to take the throne?"

"Like hell I'd let that happen!" Bel spat, grabbing a nearby rock and throwing it with tremendous force. A sickening crack was heard as it connected with Jill's skull, causing the older prince to yelp in shock and pain. He clutched his head, a wild look in those blood-red eyes.

"Bel...," he hissed, stumbling backwards so that he was in the same position as Bel had been in previously. Belphegor stood, the frog still on his head, and walked over to Jill, glaring fiercely.

"I WILL be the one to take the throne," Bel growled, "No matter what. I'll step on anyone to become the king."

"So would I," Rasiel agreed quietly.

Bel suddenly realized the seriousness of what he had done, seeing the blood flow from Jill's head. "Dammit!" he cursed, bending down and scooping up his older brother in his arms- something he had previously thought he couldn't do. The frog leapt off his head as he started running, looking jostled.

"What is this?" roared the king when Bel had returned to the castle, his wounded brother limp in his arms.

"Oh, my!" The queen fainted, seeing one of her sons in such bad condition.

"It was an accident," pleaded Bel, "He has to get treated immediate-"

"You shut up!" the king raged, before he turned to a servant. "You! Call the hospital instantly!"

"Yes sir!"

Bel carefully laid his brother on the couch, frowning with anxiety for Jill's welfare. Suddenly, his father grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him back to look at him. "What. Did. You. Do," he said in a dangerous tone.

"..."

"Answer me!"

"We fought."

"What did you do? You worthless brat!"

"I threw a rock at him."

Richard began shouting at him, but Bel began to block him out at that point. He didn't want to hear it.

"F-father..."

Bel and the king both looked to Rasiel, who's bloodshot red eyes had opened ever so slightly.

"Are you okay, son? Speak!" said the king gruffly.

Jill didn't answer, instead just closed his eyes again. And when a doctor arrived at the door to see Jill, Bel ended up running back into the forest.

-End Chapter

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><p>Yay, Cliffhanger~! Everyone remain calm, I'm simply moving the plot along! *gets hit in head with soda can* Hey! Chill, peoples!<br>If you review, I'll update faster- in fact, thanks to RejectedByMostButLovedByAll, your review kind of pushed me to upload~


	4. Chapter 4: Communication and Punishments

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Four

I'm back! Did the last chap scare anyone?  
>No?<br>Darn.  
>Oh, and review more, peoples! I'm getting all these 'story alert' messages, but no reviews! We~ell, not entirely true. But I know there's people out there who are reading and not reviewing!<br>*Please Note: I uploaded on one story twice yesterday because of reviews!

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><p>Fran's POV<p>

He didn't understand what was going on. After his mother came back, she seemed deadly serious, like something terrible had happened. He had tried to ask her, but she only croaked that 'That human is dangerous.'

Fran didn't know what a human was, but he was able to assume that it was the strange being that he'd come to admire just a little. But how was it dangerous? He had thought that it was a neutral animal, like the small pond fish that lived with them, just bigger.

A thudding noise vibrated around the pond suddenly, and Fran recognized it to be that animal again. He swam up to the surface of the water, too shy to poke his head out of it, but too curious to continue swimming normally like his brothers. Suddenly, however, he was scooped into that large claw, and brought up close to the being.

It made a strange noise that Fran didn't recognize.

"Froggy."

What? Fran didn't understand. He swam in the small amount of water the other had cupped in his hand. 'Who are you?'

"I've done something terrible..."

He still couldn't figure out what the being meant.

"I hurt my brother so bad..."

'Are you going to eat me?'

"He might not live if his condition gets worse!"

'Hey!'

Fran was done with nonsense. He wanted answers now, not just random jibberish as this thing was speaking. As he began to try and wildly ask questions, squirming in the slowly leaking pool of water he had, however, he was lowered back into the pond. He didn't understand. He wanted to know what was happening, but he couldn't get information from anyone. From anything.

'Have you ever asked a question that hasn't been anwered? Asked for knowledge and it not given? Asked for help and been neglected of it?'

That was how Fran felt. No one was talking to him. He was being kept in the dark.

'Mother!' he called, barely poking his head out of the water to try and talk to his mother on the lily pad. She saw who it was and hesitantly hopped an inch closer.

"Yes, dear?" she croaked.

'Tell be about it,' Fran pleaded. He didn't have to define 'it'. 'It' was obviously the human. She hung her head and slid into the water with him.

"Okay, Fran, let's talk.

Bel's POV

He watched the two creatures swim down to the bottom of the pond, and smiled sadly. 'Why can animals get along so much better than us humans?' he asked himself, 'What's different?'

"Bel."

The prince turned around and saw the queen, standing a couple meters away. "Yes, mother?" he asked tensely, hugging his knees to his chest.

"... He'll be okay," she told him in a quiet voice. "They're going to perform a couple of operations, and hopefully he'll still have his memory."

Bel stood up and walked over to his mother, hesitated for a moment, but then let himself hug her. "I didn't mean to do it. Really," he insisted. "When I looked and saw his back was turned, we got into a fight. He would've killed me if it wasn't for-..." He stopped when he felt the somewhat familiar feeling on his head. The frog.

"Kero."

"Ugh, Bel!" protested the queen, pushing her son back. "Don't pull such tricks when the times are this serious!" The prince tried his best not to groan at the frog's terrible timing.

"I didn't tell her to," Bel protested, looking upwards to try and see her. She seemed to be exploring him, as though she wanted to know more about him. She leapt onto his shoulder and started traveling down his outstretched arm, until she sat herself decisively on his palm, staring blankly at the queen.

"Kero."

"Bel, put it down," Elizabeth sighed.

Bel hesitantly moved back to the pond, and lowered his hand beside the water. "Go on, Mrs. Froggy~," he hummed, "Go into the water..." She turned herself around so she was back to the water, and stared at Bel.

"Kero."

"Come on, don't be stubborn...," Bel sighed, starting to submerge his hand in the water. But the more of his hand he dipped in, the further up his arm she hopped. Almost as if she wanted him to fall in. When his arm was up to his elbow in water, the prince looked at his mother defeatedly and grinned. "She doesn't want to return to the pond," he said in a sheepish voice.

"Bel!" snapped the queen, "Stop fooling around this instant! Just pick her- uh... IT up and put it in!"

Bel looked at the frog that was almost on his shoulder and frowned. "If you don't go in, I'll have to pick you up and put you in," he said quietly. She blinked slowly, before sliding down his arm and back into the water. Bel watched, amazed, as the frog swam back to her lily pad.

"Now come ON, Bel!" urged the queen, as though she hadn't witnessed the communication between the two. The prince stood slowly, shook the water off his arm and, still looking at the pond, began to follow the queen back home.

Fran's POV

His mother had said that it was called a human. That it was male, like Fran himself, and that male humans were usually the most aggressive. She also told him, however, that it wasn't fully grown, it was kind of in between adult and child- like a frog that was still losing its tail. He would age much slower that Fran would, so, for only about a day might they be the about same age.

Fran had still been eager to know more, so she left the pond to get a good look at him. When she returned, she told him quietly, "To his mother... he's just as strange of a son as you..."

While the young tadpole didn't undertand that, his mother frog had only left to go into her cave.

Bel's POV

"Bel... grounded... a year...," the devistated king muttered, pointing at the secondborn prince.

"But father, I have responsibilities," Bel said somewhat crookedly. The prince had thought about what he could do to stay in the forest with the frogs, and had come up with a splendid idea.

"What's that...?"

"Give me that set of knives," the young prince told his father in a smooth voice, "I'll start hunting food for all of us."

"That's peasant work," his father spat, glaring.

"Is it really~? Then it's a perfect punishment for a prince," Bel told him. "I'll go out to the forest and come back with rabbits, deer, fish, I could fashion my own fishing rod~" The prince was totally open to the new idea of making tools on his own and catching his own food as well as his family's. It sounded so wild- so natural, and loads of fun.

"Hm. You won't poison us?" the king asked tensely.

"Ushishi~ Of course not, father, I have to eat too."

Maybe the king was a little twisted the wrong way because of the shock of the incident with Rasiel, but Bel was positive the king nodded at him. With a cheerful cheshire grin, the prince scampered over to the cabinet where the king and queen kept two sets of throwing knives that they had planned to give to the princes. "May I?" he called to his father.

"Yeah..."

Bel grinned as he slid his set from the cabinet. 'This means Jill will be getting his too, I'll have to watch my back,' Bel thought.

The excitement was so great, though. He had proper weapons, and a new responsibility that he was going to love.

-End Chapter

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><p>Man, I feel like this chap's too short... sorry people... review more...<p> 


	5. Chapter 5: Friends, Definently

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Five

We~ell, I felt bad about the shortness in the last chap, so I'm gonna TRY to make this one nice and long.

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><p>Fran's POV<p>

He only saw one movement, but he knew that it was what he was looking for. The claw dipped into the water and picked up the large metallic object that he had been trapped under and started to pull it up. Fran swam over there and wrapped his tail around the hook, then kept his gills still so that no oxygen left him when he got lifted up.

"Oh, Froggy?"

Hazy gray eyes pointed themselves to the pale blue eyes of the human. Entranced by the other's gaze, Fran felt strangely warm. The human picked up some water in a cupped hand and let Fran fall into it. The human set the hook on the ground and moved his other hand to get more water. Fran, now able to breath properly, watched the human with extreme curiosity and a strange sort of attraction. He wanted to get closer, but without even the tiniest of hind legs, movement out of water was impossible.

Bel's POV

Bel knew it was ridiculous, but that tadpole was watching him. It was making close eye contact, its tail was perfectly still, only its gills moving. What was this? Bel moved the tadpole down, wanting it to return to the water where it was safe, but the little guy tried to swim up further- it didn't want to leave him.

Fran's POV

Not yet. He couldn't return yet. He wanted to learn about the human, he wanted to talk to it! But, no matter how hard he tried, he was eventually placed back into the pond. He watched the blurry figure as it slowly left.

Bel's POV

No, he couldn't let the tadpole do that. He'd have to get a glass from the palace, fill it with water, and then Froggy and he could hang out. But right now, he needed to find food to prove himself worthy of this degree of 'punishment'. Bel looked about him. He hadn't hunted before. But he really wanted to give it a shot. He put the fishing hook in his pocket- surely it would be of good use later on, and headed out to the depths of the forest.

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><p>"Wow, Bel, that's amazing," gushed the queen when Bel came back into the house, holding three limp rabbits by their ears.<p>

"That's not enough to feed the whole family," grunted Richard, folding his arms.

"Sorry. I'll do better in the near future," said Bel with a grin, handing a servant the rabbits to be prepared.

"It's not bad for a first~," said the queen, petting her son's head happily.

"Thanks, mother," Bel replied.

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><p>After dinner, the prince asked if he could set out again, and, when he recieved permission, he took a cup from the cupboard and left to see his Froggy.<p>

Fran's POV

He was upset about having to be put back into the water, he was desperate to learn more. Desperate to learn what the being's true purpose was.

Its motives.

Its goals.

Its needs.

Bel's POV

The prince slid down the rocks, a large grin spread over his face, and dipped the cup into the pond, picking up enough pondwater for his tadpole to enjoy.

"Froggyyy~, come out come out, wherever you are~!"

It was really just a coincidence that the tadpole just so happened to swim over at that moment, but seeing him made the blonde's heart skip a beat. He reached down, and the black creature was fast to wriggle itself up into his palm. Bel's cheeks glowed a light red when he felt the cold body on his hand, and he slowly went to set it down in the cup.

"There you are, now we can see each other really well, hm?" he said with a smile. The tadpole just looked up at him, and Bel giggled lightly, lying down on his stomach to look at the little tadpole better. "You really are an odd animal," he whispered, "so curious~"

It considered to stare, its tail paddling calmly so that it could stay treading the water. Bel leaned in closer, and suddenly noticed the light gray, triangular-shaped markings under its eyes. "Wow," he murmured, "Froggy, what's with your eyes...?"

Fran's POV

The tadpole was sure that it was the birthmarks he was looking at. There couldn't have been anything else that would produce such a strong reaction, right? Even his own mother had thought it was the strangest thing in the world.

'But really... stop looking at me like that...'

'It's making me nervous...'

"Froggy... you're so special."

'What is this feeling...?'

Bel's POV

"I've never seen anything like it~," Bel breathed, so close now. "Froggy... it's... amazing..."

"Kero!"

Bel turned his head, and saw Froggy's mother, looking up at him with large, black eyes. "Oh... sorry, do I not have your approval yet?" the prince hummed, backing up slightly. "Sorry."

"Kero."

She hopped over, looking suspiscious at the cup, and called out to it, "Kerokero!"

The tadpole swam down in the cup until he was eye level with his mother, and his little mouth opened and closed as though he was talking, fascinating the prince even further.

"Kero," she huffed, before swimming back into the pond. Bel looked incredulously at the tadpole and cocked his head to the side.

"Froggy, why don't we try to talk more often? I can tell you've got your ways of communication, and I've got mine, but let's try to really hear each other some time." The tadpole stared up at him blankly still. "You know, you've gotten bigger since I first met you. It's cute to see you growing and developing. I'll be with you every step of the way, alright?"

He knew it probably was in his imagination, but he could've sworn that the little guy nodded in agreement. His smile almost made it ear-to-ear, and he rested his head on his arms, a light blush on his face. "Let's be friends, Froggy," he whispered, "For as long as we can."

-End Chapter

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><p>Man, was it as long as I promised? If not, it's because I've got this, my 'A Royal-' series, 'The Skylark and The Cat', which I'm working on with Ikuto Anime Love, and a birthday fic for Kyouya. Add schoolwork to that, and you've got my life. Oh, and I have to attend my kouhai's birthday party tonight, so... yeah. ^^'<p> 


	6. Chapter 6: Craving Attention

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Six

Ahh... finally got Kyouya's birthday fanfic done, now I can focus completely on my three chapter stories. Oh, hi to my new reviewers, Namimoro and Kiaranx.  
>Yo, Namimoro! Thx for the stack of reviews, it inspired me to get back to writing and stop neglecting you people. Happy I made someone fangirl (it's about time I managed to do that in this story~)<br>XD Alright, I'll get to writing then...

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><p>Fran's POV<p>

After that last sentence, he placed the tadpole back into the water, looking over into the land as though he'd heard something. He returned the pondwater from the cup and looked at Fran one last time, bared his fangs in what Fran hoped was actually a friendly gesture, and sped away saying, "See you, Froggy!"

He seemed to say 'Froggy' a lot, but Fran didn't understand what that meant. Was it like how his mother called him 'Fran', and his siblings called him 'Squirt'? Like... a name?

Bel's POV

"Jill, please eat...," Bel heard his mother coax his brother when he returned inside the castle, "Come on... just... one bite. Please?"

"Nn...," Rasiel groaned, turning his head disobediently to the side. "Ca...n...t," he muttered, "ti...r...d."

"What, dear?" the flustered queen asked, taking the dinner back slightly.

"He's tired," Bel told her, "just leave him."

The queen glared at Bel for a moment, who defensively put his hands up.

"I'm just lettin' you know," the prince mumbled. "That's all."

She sighed and stood back up. "Alright then, I trust you to understand your brother. Now look, I'm going to put this back in the kitchen for later, so PLEASE watch him, and behave!"

"Yes, mother," Bel said, before she gave him one last suspiscious glance and walked out.

"Mommy thinks I'm gonna hurt you again, Jill. Looks like you're the weaker one for now," Bel hummed, walking over to the couch and sitting down where his brother lied. The older prince's head was wrapped in bandages, though there were many stray bangs that showed, and his mouth and eyes were uncovered. His arms were folded over his stomach, and his legs were crossed.

"Sheshe...," Rasiel tiredly laughed, "You little fake..."

"Tsk tsk, trying to pick a fight already? Mother doesn't want you getting hurt, remember?" he scolded, grinning. The other prince gave a lazy cheshire grin as though it took too much effort to match Bel's.

"Don't pick on me then," he huffed, "I might pop a vein and start bleeding."

Bel giggled and leaned back against the chair, looking away from his brother. "I like it when you're hurt. You're funnier and can take teasing much easier."

Rasiel sighed, "Nice to know, however, I'd prefer it doesn't happen regularly that you chuck a rock through my skull."

"Ushishi~! Oh, guess what," Bel said, moving his crossed arms onto the arm of the chair and resting his head on top of them, looking up into his brother's eyes, his own sparkling with the memory of the forest still tangible.

"I couldn't possibly guess, Bel, if you haven't noticed, I happen to have a severe head injury that's probably preventing me from thinking properly," Jill snickered, rolling his eyes.

"Yet you're fast to make smart remarks," Bel returned, "I saw Froggy again today~"

"Yeah, I saw you skipping out of the castle as though you were a girl who just got asked out by me."

"Shishishi~, girls don't like you Jill, she would've gotten asked out by ME."

"Whatever, you looked like a girl," Rasiel muttered.

"Shishishi~, it's called happiness, Jill, and it makes everyone look girly," Belphegor returned. "And by the way, are you keeping up the extremely woe-is-me, I'm so sick act up for mother because you want the attention, or what?"

"Sheshe~, no, I actually would rather she and father let me be so I can settle and enjoy some more comfortable atmosphere. I feel totally fine, aside from this searing pain in my head, and would like to talk to people as though I'm NOT dying in a hole somewhere. Usheshesheshe," Rasiel chuckled, his grin widening slightly.

"Well, I'm not about to treat you specially, my FAKE older brother," Bel laughed, "matter of fact, I happen to have a few knives on me, I could kill you if I wanted to."

"And you won't because..."

"We're already-"

"Unable to live-"

"Without each other."

"Usheshe."

"Ushishi."

It was a fact that hardly needed to be spoken aloud, both princes knew that. The second Rasiel's life was in danger, they new that they'd drag the other down if one of them died. Bel had felt something deep in his heart that felt like a string pulled taut, being pressed against with the blade of a knife, and he had known at that moment that his life was in danger. Of course, he was hardly hurt; Rasiel was the one who was really threatened.  
>If they shared a vital organ, their relationship would be the same. They might hate each other, but in reality, they can't live without each other.<p>

Fran's POV

He swam out to the deeper portion of the pond and paddled over to a fish that was about three times his size. He nudged it with his snout, and, realizing that he was having no effect on it, began to pester it.

Poke poke poke.

'Hey, scales.'

Poke poke.

'You're soooo big.'

Poke.

'Now do something, I'm bored!'

A large fin flapped away from the fish's body and pushed Fran aside, as though the fish was saying, 'shoo, kid, you're pissing me off.'

Fran sighed a bubble and swam lower to the bottom of the pond. Time to play one of his favorite games: 'Scare the Minnow.'

The 'minnow' was a small black fish that was just barely larger than Fran. It was a very timid fish, and would run away from just about anything, from birds to lizards to worms to frogs. Even other minnows if there were others that Fran didn't know about.

Fran paddled mischievously to the soft floor and carefully buried himself under the wet sand. It was a trick he'd learned by watching his eldest brother Mukuro, who was already developing his hind legs. Since Fran had memorized the minnow's swimming and feeding schedule out of boredom, he had a pretty good idea where he'd have to move in order to get to where the minnow was.

It was most likely feeding in a patch of algae that was anchored to a dark, smooth rock. That was its main scavenging site, because hundreds of tiny organisms were always tangled in the algae, making for a good meal to the minnow.

Fran pushed himself along under his mask of dirt with tail and body, his gill movement so slight, even a falcon wouldn't notice it. The tadpole soon reached the area, and knew he was in the right place when he felt the slight pushing of water over his body from the slightly larger minnow's fins as it fluttered to stay in place...

'Boo!' Fran shouted, bursting out from beneath his hiding and nipping the minnow's tail harmlessly with his lips that could only really take in algae and very small creatures. The minnow was gone in a split second, the water whooshing as it sped, startled, behind a rock. Fran did a side roll in the dirt, his tail kicking up mud that clouded around him.

'You're so funny!'

'That wasn't nice,' the minnow protested, still hiding behind a rock, though its head poked out.

'But it was funny!' Fran insisted, the cloud of sediment settling over his head.

'You know, kid, there's more to life than pulling pranks,' the dark fish told him, 'There ARE animals out there who will eat you. You need to know that life isn't fun and games, there's survival on the line!'

'Huh?'

'Foxes and birds... snakes and big wasps... spiders... oh and...,' the fish's whole body gave a nervous tremble before it mouthed, 'humans.'

'Humans? Humans would do that?' Fran asked, turning his head uncertainly to the side.

'Oh, yeah,' the fish informed him. 'Humans love to eat fishes, like me, and humans will hunt frogs when they're hungry, too!'

Fran shook with fear, his tail quivering. 'They... could... eat... me?'

"Fran!" croaked Fran's mother, diving down to the tadpole, "Stop talking to that coward and come join the family for dinner. Hurry, we won't be able to restrain Mukuro for much longer." Her voice quieted at the last part, before before she kicked over to the surface of the water, took a deep breath and dove back down to where two large, but not Mukuro-sized, tadpoles were trying to hold back the ravenous oldest from devouring all the algae in the pond. Fran brushed off his worry, and headed back to the group, amusement glinting in his eyes.

'You look hungry~,' he hummed.

'Of course!' Mukuro protested, squirming, 'My hind legs are developing! You'll be sorry when I'm fully grown and YOU'RE the one suffering from intense hunger... Come on, release me! I'm STARVING!'

'Mukuro, please calm down...,' murmured Chrome, one of the tadpoles swimming in front of the eldest, 'Please... just calm down.'

Mukuro relaxed slightly upon taking in his favorite sister's words. 'Chrome...,' he mouthed, 'I'll stop if it is your wish.'

The smaller female seemed to warm slightly, before she nuzzled into her brother. 'Thank you...'

Fran felt a pang of jealousy at his siblings and turned away. 'I wish they would like me in that way...,' he thought. None of his siblings ever acted completely friendly towards him, in fact, most of the time, he was ignored or picked on.

Really, the closest being he had was his mother. Then, second in line was...

'Him...'

'The human.'

Bel's POV

After a moment of silence, Bel crawled over to the side of the couch and looked at Jill. "May I?"

"I don't care, if you want to, go ahead," Rasiel whispered, closing his eyes. Tenderly, Bel wrapped his arms around the older prince's body and hugged him, tucking his own head just beneath Rasiel's chin. He breathed softly over the other prince's pale neck, blue eyes closed, and whispered,

"Sorry."

"No," the injured prince returned, "I understand why you'd want something intimate like this."

Bel felt the other's own arms wrap loosely around his upper body and leaned into the touch. While the two princes never seemed to need anything like love, they still needed to feel each other's warmth occassionally.

If a being doesn't recieve the love it needs...

It will wilt like a flower.

It will die out.

And death was the one thing both princes knew they'd have to suffer together, and not for years to come.

-End Chapter

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><p>Oooh, lookit, I gave you all some incest, even if it was slight. Shishishi~, and now we see that both sides are needing a bit of attention, Bel can't cling to his older brother forever, ya know-<br>Bel & Jill: STOP GIVING AWAY THINGS!  
>Me: *flinches* 'M sorry! It's a bad habit.<br>Fran: 'Hey... why doesn't anyone like me?'  
>Me: Can't say, sorry, Froggy.<br>Fran: 'Hey! Don't call me that!'  
>Jill: Ne, do I have any REAL role in this?<br>Me: Sorry, you're a bit of a supporting character, especially later when we have more to talk about with Fran and less to talk about with you.  
>Bel: I'm not clingy, you little-<br>Me: ANYWAYS! Please review for me, because I hold every review near and dear to my heart and need them to survive-  
>Jill: Hey, stop lying and end this.<br>Me: I wasn't lying! At least... not for the first part! I really do hold reviews near and dear to my-  
>Bel: Just END IT!<br>Me: Well! Review please! I'll work harder and faster!


	7. Chapter 7: Intimacy

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Seven

OKAY! I just read reviews, and spun magically around my house before coming back to my laptop.  
>Alrighty, apparently, Namimoro wants longer chapters. *sighs* I'll try!<br>And thank you sTrAwbErRi009 for reviewing too!

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><p>That night...<p>

"Bel, I know this is a big thing to ask... but would you carry your brother to your room?" the queen asked, looking uncertain. "Richard's busy, and I can tell from that look on his face that he won't let me do it."

Belphegor looked at his brother, who winced slightly, and grinned. "Shishi~ He doesn't want me touching him either, mother," he pointed out. 'I just lied,' he silently praised himself.

"He can't stay on the couch forever, Bel, just do it. You were able to carry him over here in the first place!" she protested.

"Oh, fine," Bel sighed, walking over to his brother. He glanced back up at his mother. "Uh... could you just... go back to your room?"

"Why?" she asked, arching a brow.

"Shishi, don't want to be caught in the act of touching him when he doesn't want me to," Bel giggled, still grinning. 'Another lie point for the prince,' he added.

The queen rolled her eyes and muttered, in a dangerous voice, "Belphegor." Bel, used to being called by the usual nickname and not his full first name, shrugged.

"Okay, fine."

He carefully slid one arm under his brother's knees, the other around his shoulders, and picked him up bridal style. The two of them were eerily silent as Bel walked up the stairs carefully, Rasiel clutching his head slightly.

"Are you faking that, or is that real pain?" Bel hissed when he knew the queen wouldn't be able to hear him.

"Sure as hell it is," Jill spat, "Damn..." Bel shook his head with dissapointment, the corners of his lips just barely bending into a smirk.

"Ooh, that's two bad words, Jill, you owe me two euros."

"Since when has it been one-euro-per-curse?" his brother mumbled Bel grinned.

"What? You broke, mister fake prince?"

"Hell no, I'm not," Jill growled. "I just don't want to pay you for anything."

"A reasonable reason," Bel chuckled, simply wanting to say that. "Now tell me, is there ANYTHING I can do about that headache?"

"Oh sure," Jill said, starting to grin, "A glass of water. Actually, it would be even better if you just shut up."

"Ushishishishi~," Bel laughed softly, quieting. "Sorry, my weak little brother."

"Hey, I'm older than you, don't test your luck with me," Rasiel warned him. "If you want me to stay nice."

"Sure, when you have a concussion, you really can be fierce," Bel whispered, finally getting to their room and kicking the door open.

"Bel, that's not very princely," Jill pointed out, before breaking into a cute yawn.

"Oh? You want me to put you down so I can open the door nicely?" Bel chuckled, "Just live with me kicking doors open, it's a bad habit." After a pause he added, "And it's not like you don't do it either."

"Sheshe... I'm very graceful when I kick things," Jill giggled. His younger brother giggled too, though he rolled his eyes, and both princes looked at each other for a moment that felt strangely good. Bel walked slowly into the room, cradling his brother in a manner that was very intimate.

"Ne, Jill..."

"Yes?"

"Can I ask a stupid question?" Bel asked, his voice dropping to a whisper.

"You never ask permission for the other ones," Rasiel commented.

"No... I mean... really...," Bel murmured.

"Alright, what is it?"

"... Do you want to sleep in your own bed tonight... or would you like to sleep... with me, in my bed?" Bel asked, a hint of shyness in his voice. Jill's blood-red eyes opened wide, his mouth parted ever so slightly.

"Wha..."

"No no, it's alright!" Bel said instantly, "You don't have to-"

"No," Jill said firmly, "Let's try it."

It was Bel's turn to be suprised, but he quickly softened into a smile. "No killing me in my sleep, ne?"

"But of course."

Bel walked over to his own bed and softly laid his brother onto the mattress. "Just this once?"

"Let's just test it out today..."

"And is this only 'cause you're hurt?"

"Sheshe... it MIGHT be the concussion talking."

"Didn't know it could."

Bel walked over and closed the door, then slid into the bed next to his brother. "We haven't done this since we were three," he whispered.

"Yeah, I know...," Rasiel agreed, trying with difficulty to turn and face Bel. The blue-eyed prince blinked slowly, before leaning close and resting his head on top of the older's. Rasiel gave the slightest quiver, before he breathed out, "Bel... don't treat me like your little brother..."

"Can't help it...," Bel whispered, "it doesn't hurt, does it?"

"No... the hit was more towards the side of my head...," Jill told him, suddenly moving an arm around Bel's side and trying weakly to pull him closer. "Yeah... this is definently the concussion..."

"Jill...," Bel breathed, "Just let it happen... kay?"

"Okay..."

(A/N: And there you are, (tw)incest lovers! Sorry, no more. It's Bel-Fran, remember?)

Fran's POV

Fran sunk down to the bottom of the pond and looked around miserably. Whether it was very early hormones or not, the young tadpole couldn't help thinking that he really needed to see the human more often.

'And humans will eat frogs when they're hungry, too!'

Fran trembled slightly and hid his tail in the sand, leaving just enough room for his gills to operate properly. 'But is there anyone else I really want to be with? It was always the same old thing until HE came into my life...'

Fran looked around the darkened pond, over at the group of his siblings, numbering about thirty, and felt something he hadn't felt before. As he tried to figure out what it was that was making him feel so hurt, his fast gills began to calm into a more sleep-like state.

Fran didn't get to realize that he was feeling lonely before sleep overcame him.

Morning...

Bel's POV

Bel woke up slowly, and shuddered when he felt the strange feel of his brother's arms around his waist. His blue eyes opened to meet the lidded eyes of Rasiel, and he sighed as gently as he could, letting his breath ruffle the perfectly straight hair of his brother. That was another difference that they noticed- Bel could never keep all of his hair down, while Jill never had anything out of place.

"Bel...," Jill murmured, though his eyes remained closed. Bel carefully slithered out of the loose grip, and repositioned the blanket over his brother once more, making sure that he was comfortable before the prince walked out of the room.

'Off to the forest, Prince Belphegor goes,' the prince thought as he hummed a small tune. He thumped softly down the stairs, sneaked into the kitchen to steal his pond-glass back, and opened the door to meet a misty morning sun and dew-coated grass.

Bel took his crown off and tossed it onto the patch of long grass, then began running, excited to get back.

"Shishishi~," he giggled as the birds abruptly fell silent, startled by him. He slowed only a bit upon reaching the more muddy parts of the forest, but hurried up again the second he caught sight of the pond. He stumbled once or twice, but was able to get to the place unharmed.

"Kero kero kero!" protested the mother frog, looking startled by his sudden skid up to the pond. Bel bowed.

"The prince has arrived," he said in a 'regal' voice.

There was a moment of complete silence, before birds decided to start their chirping once more. The frog he'd become so familiar with blinked slowly, then leapt back into the pond. Bel laughed happily, lying stomach down on the rocks, and dipping the cup into the pond. He accidentally scooped up a large tadpole, and, though he was rather suprised to see that it was already developing its hind legs, he knew it wasn't Froggy, so he had little intrest in it.

Fran's POV

Now Fran wasn't much of a morning creature. He tended to be a little scatterbrained upon waking up in the morning. When he saw Mukuro get scooped up into a big, clear container, he began panicing, and floated up to the surface to complain.

'Human! That's not me! That's my brother! Don't you see... oh...'

The cup of pond water was poured back in quickly, and a confused and frightened Mukuro was set free once more. 'Aiyeeeee!' he screeched, darting away. 'I was caught! I was caught!'

Fran had a moment of sheer awkwardness upon seeing his brother act so scared, but realized the human was waiting for him to swim into the container, and was fast to swim over.

As soon as he had wriggled over the edge of the clear container, it was slowly lifted up again. Fran pretended to nuzzle against the human's large claw, but knew that he was only touching the cool walls.

"Good morning, Froggy."

Fran was happy to hear those strange noises again. They sounded like a mixture of wind and birds' chirps. It was really relaxing to listen to, even though it was so different to the usual croaks of his mother or the soundless body language of his siblings.

"Did you have a nice night?"

Fran looked at the large, slightly distorted face and silently asked, 'Why are we so different?'

The other slid a finger into the container and gave Fran a gentle rub on the back. It felt strange and a bit rough to be stroked by the human's claw, but it enough to make Fran's little heart pound with excitement.

"Froggy...," the human hummed, his fangs parting and closing as he spoke the single word. The name.

"Fran!" croaked Fran's mother, getting out of the pond. "I thought I made it clear that you weren't to try anything with him!"

'But mother,' Fran protested, swimming to the bottom so he'd be eye level. 'he's my friend!' The frog looked taken aback, but soon shook it off.

"Fran, look. You are part of what was probably my last clutch of eggs. There were fifty, and more than half of you have made it to the tadpole stage- Mukuro and Spade have even begun to develop their hind legs! I want you all to make it to froghood, and I don't need any more suprises!"

'Mother...,' Fran whined, 'please let me stay with him...'

"No way, Fran, I've had quite enou-" Fran's mother silenced herself upon feeling the human's claw petting her head softly.

"It's okay, you can trust me," the human said in a voice like the rush of air beneath a fallen leaf. "I'll take good care of him."

She looked at him with wide eyes, not liking to be touched, and backed up. She gave one last frustrated look to Fran, before diving back into the pond.

Bel's POV

"Man, Froggy, you've got one protective mother. It's a good thing, I suppose. At least you don't have to deal with my brother," Bel chuckled, before looking out to the pond. "Ne, have you had breakfast yet?"

The tadpole just stared at him with those big, gray eyes, so Bel dipped a hand cautiously into the pond, and reached over to a patch of algae that was surrounded by feeding tadpoles. He tried not to startle them, but took a small bit off of the plant. A few tadpoles darted away at the movement, but Bel ignored it and just pulled up the strand of algae, before placing it back into the cup that his favorite tadpole was in. "There you are, Froggy~," he whispered. The tadpole gave a movement that reminded Bel of someone shuffling with flushed thankfulness, before it swam over, glanced at the prince one last time, and began eating. Bel blushed lightly as he watched the tiny body picking at the plant, and smiled warmly.

"What a great life it must be, surrounded by all sorts of friendly siblings and a mother that cares so much about you," Bel whispered. Froggy continued eating, his gills still opening and closing in heartbeat intervals.

'If I could only understand his body language, then we could establish at least a one-way communication...,' the prince thought as he watched the developing amphibian. 'If I understood Froggy, then I'd have someone to really talk to...'

-End Chapter

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><p>Happy, Namimoro?<p>

Meh. Review please~!


	8. Chapter 8: Personality

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Eight

Woo!  
>I'm motivated, cause I'm listening to music.<br>Oh yeah, and your reviews help too. *rereads reviews* Yeah! You guys rock! Tosses cookies to reviewers.  
>XD Okays, I'll try for another long chapter. Oh, but I'm very sorry for late uploads now- my old netbook broke, so I had to download my files before anything got worse, and I just got my new netbook. Sorry if there's any errors, I'm not used to this keyboard<p>

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><p>3:45 PM, the next day.<p>

Bel had Froggy in the cup once again, but this time, he was being completely silent. He just watched as the tadpole made tiny movements that probably indicated speech. After a while, Bel felt defeated. He couldn't understand anything.

"Froggy," he whispered, touching his hand to the glass. "Why can't we talk better than this?"

"Kero!"

Bel watched the mother frog step out of the pond and hop over. She looked at Bel as though in a questioning manner and croaked again. The prince pointed at Froggy and pouted, "I don't understand him!"

"Kero," she replied, giving Bel what felt like a 'no duh' look. Bel curled up and continued watching Froggy. The tadpole's mother hopped over as well, and put her front limbs up against the glass as though testing to see if there really was something there holding the water. When she found out it wasn't too hard to cling to, she tried to climb up. Bel moved to hold the glass steady as she climbed, but since it was wider at the top then the bottom, it put the frog at an odd angle and she fell backwards. She flipped back onto her stomach quickly, and took a moment to recover, looking indigant.

Fran's POV

'Mother! Are you alright?' Fran asked as his mother got herself up again.

"I'm fine," she croaked, "I'm fine..."

'Okay...,' Fran mumbled, swimming low in the glass.

"Hey, look, Fran. The human's trying to understand you, and you're barely helping him," she told him, stepping back towards the water.

'He is?' asked Fran, incredulous.

"Try to be more obvious with what you're trying to tell him. Make movements other than your mouth," she said, "and yes, he is. I can tell. If he wasn't, he'd be talking his little human head off. He IS really young, after all."

'O-okay! Thanks mother!' Fran called as his mother began to swim away. The tadpole looked back up at the human and thought about how to make his body language more profound. 'I should try to say something simple first,' he said, 'and slowly build the human's tadpole vocabulary!'

"Froggy?"

Fran looked up at the human. 'What does he understand already...?' The tadpole looked to a fresh strand of algae that had been placed in the cup moments ago. 'He understands what food is.' He looked out to the lake. 'He knows my mother. He knows the pond and the rocks here...'

'I guess he sort of knows Mukuro too.'

The tadpole looked up at the human once more and felt his heart start beating a bit quick.

'And he knows me.'

Bel's POV

The tadpole seemed to have calmed slightly, and, though Bel felt that he was having another ridiculous thought, it seemed that the tadpole was thinking. It swam up to the strand of algae the prince had put in, and nuzzled against it. Bel bit his lip when the tadpole looked back at him, but then it made another small, but understandable gesture.

He nudged the algae again, making a point of how small the strand was, and Bel, after considering for a moment, reached into the pond and dropped another strand into Froggy's cup. The tadpole suddenly began spazzing out, but it seemed like it was happy, at least.

Fran's POV

'He actually got it!' the developing frog cheered, so happy that he almost got himself completely out of the water in a joyful leap. Not to bum the tadpole's joy, he actually just poked the tip of his snout out.

"Froggy," rasped the human. Fran looked at the human, his eyes twinkling with joy, and he began to nuzzle against the glass. 'You... you understood me,' the tadpole inaudibly said, 'Maybe we actually have a chance of talking.'

Fran thought of his mother. 'When I'm fully grown... I'll be able to use verbal speech, and I'll have much more to work with.' He looked out at the land. 'I'll have rocks, grass, birds... I'll have trees and-' The tadpole suddenly cut himself off, looking back at the human. 'I'll be able to really touch him, too.'

"Good job, honey!" cheered Fran's mother, who was watching from a lily pad. Fran looked back to his mother, warm under his eyes, and trembled.

'Thanks, mother!'

"Hey, Froggy," spoke the human, lying down on his stomach, "Talk some more."

Fran really only understood 'Froggy', but nevertheless, he was quick to think of something else to try and communicate.

'Maybe I could try to get him to move me into the grass,' the tadpole thought, 'it would be nice to see the grass before I grow up, too. Like a peek at the future.'

Fran glanced up at the human again, then swam against the edge of the glass towards the grass, like a little black arrow.

Bel's POV

It didn't take as long to understand the next one. Bel picked up the cup and moved it carefully over into the grass. Again, the tadpole began to swim about its containment excitedly, and Bel smiled. The prince reached up and touched his cheek.

Maybe it was inevitable to the prince, but when he felt that heat, it was just too obvious that...

He was blushing.

Later...

Bel walked back into the palace, dragging his most impressive catch yet: a wild boar. The prince didn't even know those were in the forest. The prince, seeing a servant, handed the boar over, his grin slightly lopsided. "Give it to my father," he said, waving a hand in dismissal. "Tell him I'll bring Jill down."

With that, Bel sprinted almost silently up the stairs, wanting to tell his brother all about his most recent escapade. He kicked open the door to their room, not losing any momentum, and hopped over to where his brother lied: on Bel's bed; he hadn't moved since that morning.

"Jill," Bel called, shaking the older prince softly to wake him. "Jill!"

"Nnng...," the older prince mumbled, tired, "Bel...?" Bel responded by poking his brother in the cheek.

"Come on, wake up all the way~," he coaxed.

Blood-red eyes fluttered open to gaze at Bel. "What is it...?" he asked tiredly. Bel grinned and began to tug at his brother's arm.

"Get up, I need to tell you somthing~," he hummed.

"Just let me stay in bed," groaned Jill, pulling his arm back, to no avail.

"No," the younger prince answered simply, finally giving a jerk that made his brother flop tiredly onto the floor. "Stop being lazy, it's just a head injury."  
>Jill glared up at the older prince, and they locked gazes. "I can't walk very well, you'll have to support me."<p>

"Whatever, I can live with that," Bel huffed. Jill, still watching his younger brother, reached up and used the bed to get himself onto his feet, but he was trembling with the effort. Belphegor wrapped his right arm around his older brother's shoulders and let Rasiel lean on him. "Are you alright?" he whispered as his brother fell against his side, clutching Bel's shirt.

"I'm fine," he snickered, though he obviously was not. Bel pulled his brother up slightly, and moved his arm around Jill's torso instead, so that his older brother could freely use his arms. He felt the prince's left arm touch his side, and realized that Jill had wrapped the free arm around his waist. He cheshiar grinned at his brother, and recieved a slightly more strained one in return.

"Shishishi," he giggled.

"Shesheshe," Rasiel returned.

The two maintained their grins and tried their best to get back down the stairs.

Fran's POV

Fran wandered about the pond at a leisurely pace, only paddling when absolutely neccessary. He was considering what to teach the human to do next. He approached the minnow, who was scavenging, and called out, 'Hey, I have a question.' The minnow, startled, swam forward so fast he hit his head on a rock.

'Ow...,' the small fish protested, shaking his head in frustration. He turned to look at Fran and sighed a bubble through his gills. 'What is it, tadpole number twenty-six?'

Fran, familiar with the minnow's recently discovered number-system, proceeded to ask his question. 'What are humans like to you?'

'T-to me?' the minnow repeated, 'Well, my last encounter with a human was quite the tale... oh, but it's long... do you wish to hear it...?'

'Sure,' Fran said, resting on the pond floor, ready for a story.

'Okay... let's see... it began a long time ago, I was about half the size of you, twenty-six. it was a bright day; the sun was shining; the surface had only the gentlest ripples disturbing its surface... a beautiful day, it was. It was about then that a big, metal object dipped into the pond. My whole family was scared of it, at first, but I decided to explore. I realized that there was food on it, and so I went to take the food.'

'What happened?' asked Fran, 'I mean, after you took the food?'

'Well that's just the thing, kid. It was a trap!' the minnow announced. 'Before I knew it, I was being hauled into the air by a huge claw. My upper mouth was punctured by the sharpened metal, and I tell you, kid, that REALLY hurt. But as soon as I was about to be completely caught, I managed to wriggle myself all the way off of the claw, and I splashed back into the water. It was so scary, I swam to hide behind a rock once I was back in the water, trying desperately to get more oxygen into my gills. I lost a bit of blood from the cut, but it wasn't enough to kill me. And luckily, no bones were broken either; it was just the scales on my upper mouth. By now, that's healed up, though.'

'Wow...,' Fran mouthed, suprised, 'why did they do all that?'

'To catch me- er... us. To catch fish. Humans eat other animals, you know. I don't know exactly how popular frogs are, to be honest, but I do know they eat frogs.'

'How do you know?' asked Fran.

'Oh... erm... w-well... they're... human's, so... Uh... Humans just... humans eat a lot of food, okay?'

'Uh... okay...?'

"Fran!"

Fran looked behind him. 'Mother?'

"What did I say about talking to that coward?" the frog scolded, "Get over here, it's almost nightfall."

Fran looked at the surface of the water. Indeed, the sky was letting out less light, so it had to be night soon. Fran swam over to his mother, after giving the black fish one last look. 'The minnow's older than me. He's been with humans before...,' the tadpole considered, 'perhaps not all humans are the same?'

Thus, the discovery of 'human personality' was made in that small pond in the forest.

-End Chapter

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><p>Again, I'm really sorry for late uploads, I have yet to get completely used to this netbook...<p> 


	9. Chapter 9: A Kingdom's Terror

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Nine

Woo! Wait, did I already say that? XD Okay, here goes chaper nine! I'm out of school now, so I'll try and upload at LEAST every four days, 'kay?

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><p>Fran's POV<p>

Fran yawned through his gills and looked around. At last, it was morning. The tadpole had had quite the odd vision in his dreams... but that was dismissed. It currently held very little significance.

Bel's POV

Bel woke up and smiled almost the second he opened his eyes. He sat up and glanced over to the bed where Rasiel lied. The older prince was still in a peaceful slumber, his bangs sweeped to the side to reveal his closed eyes. Belphegor placed his crown on his head and hopped out of bed, no longer looking at Jill, and snuck out of the room with a skillful silence. He leaned on the balcony and sighed happily, looking over the huge room below him.

'If I jumped, I'd die,' Bel mused.

'I threw Jill over, he'd die.'

'... Sucks that we have to live together.'

The prince giggled quietly and began to head down the stairs, making sure that he made no noise. When he reached the bottom of the stairs, however, he heard two voices.

His parents.

And they sounded angry.

Bel tip-toed over to the door where the arguing could be heard and pressed himself against it to hear better. Unfortunately, he could only make out a few words.

"Richard, they... ... children!"

"I know, but... princes!"

"They... battle..."

"... must!"

"No!"

"It's... the kingdom!"

"NO!"

"Elizabeth!"

Bel backed away from the door, his expression crestfallen. His parents were arguing about Jill and himself; that was clear. But about what? Bel suspected the subject was who would become the future king, and he didn't wan't to find out. Before he even knew what he was doing, he was out the door and running for the forest. He was dressed up in his regal clothes, as he had planned to attend breakfast before leaving (his father threw a fit when he wasn't dressed royally) and he hadn't even picked up a glass. He was just running, almost blindly, through the forest, and still he managed to stop at the pond once more. A tear fell into the pond as Bel practically collapsed on a stone. He cried softly out of fear of losing all chances of having the throne.

He wiped at his watery eyes with his sleeve, then looked at himself. he was even more frustrated when he saw that he was wearing a bright, white dress shirt and long brown pants. His regal clothes. He even had on a bright, red robe, and he was still wearing his crown.

WRURT.

Bel glanced up. The odd, bubbling noise had been created by Froggy, quickly moving his tail on the surface of the water and causing tiny air bubbles to pop around him. Bel picked up the tadpole and held it before him.

"H-hello, Froggy...," he whispered, trying his best to smile for the animal.

Fran's POV

'What's the matter?' Fran called, flinching as another droplet of water fell into the cupped claws, emitting sad energy. 'Human, please tell me! I'll understand!'

Fran honestly knew that he wouldn't understand a thing that the human told him anyway, but he was unusually desperate to share the pain.

Bel's POV

"Belphegor," the prince whispered, looking down. "One day, I want to hear you call me by my name. So I'll tell you right now." He looked to the tadpole. "My name is Belphegor. Belphegor of the Storm, some call me. Others call me Prince Bel. I really just want to hear you say my name. So..."

"Belphegor. My name is Belphegor."

Fran's POV

'Bel... phe... gor...?' Fran twitched, calming. 'What's that word that he keeps repeating? It sounds kind of pretty... it's like a mixture of a growl and the wind. But it's such a soft growl that it's melodic.'

Fran tested the word himself after watching the human's mouth move. 'Bel... phe... gor... Bel... phe... gor. Such a foreign sound that I can't even mouth it. Just like 'Froggy' and everything else he says. What does it mean...? Maybe I can ask mother...'

Bel's POV

The tadpole calmed and watched the prince, seeming to mouth things just after Bel spoke.

'Does he want to learn it?' Bel noticed a small indent in the stone where water had collected, and he placed Froggy in it. It was a little shallow for the tadpole, but provided swimming space. Bel bent over so he was closer.

"Belphegor," he spoke clearly. He pointed at himself. "Belpehgor." The tadpole looked at him almost blankly before mouthing something again. Bel knew the tadpole wouldn't be able to mimic him perfectly, but nonetheless, he wanted Froggy to learn.

"Bel-phe-gor... that's right, sound it out, Bel-phe-gor..."

At that point, the prince was pretty sure he was going crazy.

Fran's POV

'Bel-phe-gor... Bel-phe-gor...,' Fran repeated. 'He just pointed at himself when he said that- could it be that Belphegor is the human's name?'

"Try again, Froggy, watch my lips... Bel-phe-gor."

Fran sighed a bubble. 'Too bad I don't get anything else.'

The tadpole began to lose intrest in hearing 'Belphegor, Belphegor, Belphegor,' and he decided it was HIS turn to talk. He swam in a circle and started to push himself out of the smooth edge of the cup. He gasped, then choked on all the air, and struggled to get back into the pond. Instantly, the human, Belphegor, pushed him in with a claw. Fran breathed with relief when his gills took in air through the water once more.

"Are you okay, Froggy?"  
>Without thinking or knowing what Belphegor had said, Fran responded, '<p>

Yeah, I'm fine.'

Bel's POV

"Hey, there's someone over there by the pond!"

"Is that a crown on 'is head?"

"Jackpot! It's Rasiel, one of the princes!"

Bel stood, hearing the voices, and turned darkly towards the people over there.

"Excuse me, sirs!" he called, "But my name is Belphegor. I am rather disappointed that you mistook me for my shadow of a brother."

"Heh, whut'd he say?"

"No idea. But whatever, he's just a child. Let's kill 'im and head to the castle."

'Kill me?' Belphegor repeated in his thoughts. He cheshire grinned.

"Oh, my, what do we have here. A riot? How many times has my father put you guys down?" he teased, folding his arms behind his head. "La~ame."

"Hey, brat, you just sit tight and let us kill ya, 'kay? See, win-win situation."

"Win-win? Don't be silly," the prince continued to taunt. "I'm the only winner in THIS land."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Now just stand still while I shoot at ya..."

'Shoot? Wait, a gun? I thought those were outlawed!' Bel was off like a startled rabbit for the palace, frequently changing direction so the rioters didn't get an opportunity to aim at him. His heart throbbing in his chest with the fright, the prince raced back up to the castle. He jostled the door, turning pale when it was locked. He stumbled backwards and called up to a window,

"MOTHER! FATHER! JILL!"

A head peeked out of the window- Rasiel. "Bel, is that you?"

"Let me in, I'm being chased!" the younger prince shouted frantically.

"By who?"

"Does it matter? Jill, if I die, you'll die to, now hurry!"

"B-but Bel, I can't-"

"JUST TRY, JILL!" Bel yelled, then yelped as a bullet struck his left arm. Jill immediately began to run to the door, startled to see his brother get shot in a kingdom where there were supposed to be no guns. Bel glanced behind him, clutching his arm, and began to run side-to-side in uneven patterns to throw off the aim. Tears of fear and pain tracked down his cheeks, but he continued to run in evasive moves to parry shots. Suddenly, the door clicked, just loud enough for Bel to hear, and the young prince ran into the castle, slamming the door behind him. He panted tiredly and clutched the blood pounding in his forehead, then looked up at Rasiel. His older brother picked up his injured arm and winced when Bel whimpered.

"Should I get a handkerchief?" he asked quietly, "To help with the blood?"

Bel nodded, and stood, then hugged his brother with one arm. "Oh, Jill, it was so scary!" he wailed, clutching his brother's shirt.

"Yeah, Bel, I can imagine, now come on. Mother and Father are getting people to fight them off- there's much more than just that one group."

BANG. BANG.

"Open the door, brats!"

"Like hell we're going to," Jill muttered. "Come on, Bel, let's get you treated."

Fran's POV

All the tadpoles and fish bowed their heads. A small vibration had caused a large rock to tumble down from the side of the pond. A second before it squished the minnow in it's wake, Fran's mother had dashed out and pushed the minnow out of harm's way.

But who was going to take care of the tadpoles now?

-End Chapter

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><p>Well, it's summer break now, so I'll upload as fast as I can! This'll be my busiest summer ever... I'm juggling my three chapter stories, trying to learn Japanese, and I'm booked on travels to- whoops, can't say. XD Feel free to review, I imagine many of you are pissed off at me now. Ahaha...<p> 


	10. Chapter 10: Let's Play a Name Game

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Ten

Wow, I'm already on chapter ten? Sheesh, I wonder how long I'm going to be writing this thing... Oh, don't worry, it's not like I'm getting bored, no, not at all!

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><p>Fran's POV<p>

Fran pressed himself next to one of his closer brothers: Lussuria. This older sibling had been sort of second-in-command regardless of being younger than Mukuro and Spade. He was capable of comforting and calming the other tadpoles. Sort of like a second mother, except he was rather young.

'It's okay, Fran dear,' Lussuria whispered, his voice shaking, 'Whatever you do, don't panic...'

A large catfish swam up and began to roll the rock over. All the tadpoles looked away, but in the end, they couldn't help looking. Fran trembled and used Lussuria's tail to shield his eyes from the sight of his mother, who had been crushed under the rock.

'Oh, brother, don't let me see,' he whimpered. His brother shushed him and whispered,

'Fran, dear, it's simply life...' Fran looked up again and gulped down his heavy sadness.

'Mother...'

The tadpole swam boldly down to the body and nuzzled against it, his heart throbbing with sorrow. He felt the torn, flaking skin that had been scraped and grinded against by the heavy stone, then inhaled a couple of blood cells and backed away for cleaner water.

'Life is so frail for you folk,' the large catfish said to the tadpoles, 'I do hope you all remain safe...'

Fran looked up at the big fish, then looked behind him. His siblings were following his lead and slowly swimming forward as well. Mukuro tapped Fran on the head with his developing legs as he swam above the younger's head to get to his mother.

The brave tadpole swam out of the crowd and over to the minnow. 'Are you okay?'

'I'm fine,' the minnow breathed, apparently in a state of shock. 'You had a wonderful mother, twenty-six.'

Fran looked back to the crowd of tadpoles again. Mukuro and Spade were both trying to comfort Chrome, who was wailing with the heartbreak. Lussuria tried to hush the smaller tadpoles as they whined and cried about the loss. Fran looked around the pond. Some of the other fish had lost intrest and returned to their scavenging. He nudged the minnow, trying to rouse him from his shock, and murmured, 'Hey... wanna look for some food with me? Even though she's gone... we can't let ourselves starve from mourning. She died to protect you, minnow.'

'I know, I know!' the minnow choked, 'I'm just so stunned... I was on the verge of death, and to think that SHE was the one to protect me... Ah, if only the catfish was faster...'

'The rock was coming down really fast, though, it would've probably hurt him anyway,' Fran pointed out. '... What's done is done... I'm going to go scavenge.'

'Oh, by the way, twenty-six...,' the minnow called, 'if you ever grow tired of calling me minnow, then start to call me by my actual name, would you? It's Lambo.'

'Okay, Lambo.'

Even though the young tadpole sounded like it was all okay, he couldn't stop the throbbing in his heart.

Bel's POV

"Bel! Jill! Go to your room this instant, your father and I can handle this on our own!"

The two princes were fast to obey, neither of them wishing to remain in the range of those guns. Bel supported his brother on the way up to their room, his arm around his brother's torso. When they were both safely inside the room, they simultaneously sighed with relief.

BANG.

The princes watched a bullet strike the wall and looked at each other.

"I think we ought to close the window," whispered Bel.

"That'll be dangerous..."

BANG. BANG.

"... Okay, yeah, let's close the window."

They inched along the floor, hoping they were out of shooting range, and each took a side of the window to close. They pushed outer iron bars closed first, then slid the glass shut, before closing the curtains.

"That's good enough, now isn't it?" Rasiel said, They'll have to get between the bars to get through, and that's not that easy of a task if you aren't experienced enough."

SHATTER.

"Jill... I think they have experience more than anything else," Bel hissed, startled.

"Let's move to that corner."

The two princes eased themselves into a corner along the same wall as the window and got really close together, finding comfort in company.

Fran's POV

Fran swam down to the bottom of the pond where his siblings lied sleeping, (It was still daytime; they were sleeping off the shock) then glided over that area and settled in the sand some distance away from all of them.

'It's not good to distance yourself so far from your family, little one,' the catfish murmured; he'd been trying to rest only a short distance away.

'None of them want me there anyway. I'm the odd one out, don't you remember my markings?' Fran whispered.

The catfish sighed heavily and swam over. 'Then hide yourself under my fin. If any predators come along then they'll have to pass you over. After all, I'll be protecting you.'

'Thank you... do you have a name I can call you other than catfish?'

The catfish gave a small sort of laugh before saying, 'Of course. You can call me Tsuna.'

Fran began to realize that all of the fish must have names, and he felt a little silly for never learning them.

Bel's POV

Bel hugged his brother, his eyes closed, and shuddered when another bullet broke through the window. Rasiel tenderly hugged Bel back, careful of his brother's arm injury.

"It'll be over soon," he tried to sooth, "Just stay calm."

"I could say the same to you," Bel muttered, "You're shaking like a cold puppy."

"Nice comparison," Rasiel snickered. "Wait- quiet, Bel, I can hear voices." Bel fell silent, and listened along with his brother to the voices outside.

"Hey, at this point, they're at LEAST injured. Let's kill off the parents before we go for the princes. C'mon."

There were footsteps, and then pure silence.

KNOCK KNOCK.

"Bel, Jill, open this door," commanded their father. Rasiel hopped up and ran to crack open the door. He only opened it enough to see their father, and Bel was soon by his side.

"Yes, Father?" the princes questioned in unison.

"Look, I don't care how you do it, but I need you two to escape through the window. We'll be fighting for a while, the full deal of rioters have already hit us, but they're all at different entrances. If you get out quickly and run to the forest, perhaps you can be saved. Take your knives."

"Yes, Father," both princes said again. The door was closed.

"Jill, how are we going to do this?" Bel whispered shakily.

"Well, I suggest we tie our bedsheets together tightly," Rasiel began, "let them down from the window, and use them to escape. It isn't the safest, but it could work."

"Sounds a little cliche, but alright," Bel agreed. The princes got to work immediately, tying ends of bed sheets together. It didn't take too long, because the princes were in such a panic they worked twice as fast.

"Alright, let's let it out of the window and see how far down it reaches," Rasiel suggested. His younger brother nodded, and they both worked to get the coil of sheets out of the window. It was still a couple meters off the ground. Bel sighed. "No matter, Bel," said Rasiel, wringing his hands with anxiety, "that isn't so far off the ground that we'll get hurt, we can still go down. ... Now... who's going first?"

The younger prince was quick to say, "It was your idea, you go first."

"Shesheshe, no, Bel, you should go first," Jill muttered, "that way, I'll be able to hold tight onto the sheets until you're safely on the ground. As for myself, I'll tie it to the iron bars of the window. If I'm lucky, the bars will hold until I, too, reach the ground."

"And then what?" Bel asked, "People will realize that we've escaped the moment they see the bed sheets!"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Now get up onto the window... grab a hold of the sheets."

Bel reluctantly obeyed, clutching the sheets carefully. "Jill...," he whispered, then gulped, "i-it's a pretty far down there..."

"Don't worry, Bel, I won't let you fall," soothed the older prince, "just trust me."

"I trust you," Bel said, though with a hint of uncertainty. He waited for Jill to take hold of the sheets, then inched himself closer to the edge.

"Go on," Rasiel coaxed. Bel looked deep into his brother's bloody red eyes, and whispered,

"We're getting through this together, alright?"

"Okay."

Bel began to slide down the sheets, getting a slight fabric burn from his speed before he made himself slow down. He looked down. There wasn't much of a drop, so he let himself fall down onto the ground. He looked back up. His brother was tying the sheets to the iron bars already. He called down, "Good job, Bel, I'm next!"

"Hurry!" Bel called back. He could faintly hear his brother giggle before Rasiel began to step out of the window. He stepped backwards as the other prince came down the rope, his shirt fluttering along the trip. Jill stopped at the bottom of the rope, relieved, and touched the ground lightly.

"We're safe," he breathed.

"Not yet," Bel countered, "The sheets."

"Cut it down with a knife," Rasiel suggested, rubbing his head. "You've had more practice." Bel glanced at his brother, then mumbled,

"You didn't get your set, did you?"

"No, I didn't. But I know that you've got yours hidden in secret pockets, you had Mother sew those on just yesterday."

"Right," Bel agreed, before drawing a knife and throwing it upwards. He successfully cut the rope, and the tied bedsheets fluttered to the ground.

"Nice aim," Rasiel said, grinning. "Let's get the sheets; we could use them in the forest."

"Okay," Bel returned. Rasiel picked up the sheets and nodded towards the forest. "Lead the way, Bel."

"Wait... first," Bel said, before taking the crown off of Rasiel's head, then took off his own. "These will give us away. Let's not wear them."

"Yeah."

Fran's POV

After a while of resting, many tadpoles were up and swimming again, including Fran. Tsuna, the catfish, had actually woken him when all of his other siblings were up, and he had invited the odd tadpole to scavenge with him. Fran gratefully accepted, glad to have made a new friend. He began to tell Tsuna about his human friend.  
>'He's really nice, and he's trying to teach me his language. I can talk to him a little, too.'<p>

'Oh?' hummed the catfish, 'what's his name?'

'Uhh... Belphegor,' answered Fran, 'His name's Belphegor.'

'Bel... Belphegor? Hm, I didn't expect you to actually know what his name was.'

'It's Belphegor,' Fran repeated, 'And he calls me Froggy.'

'Froggy? Heh, well that certainly isn't YOUR name. Mayhaps you could teach him your real name sometime.'

'I'm gonna try, but I don't know how to talk to him...'

'Ah, I see. Well, good luck.'

Suddenly, that same claw dipped into the water, and Fran just faintly heard a muffled 'Froggy!'

'That's Belphegor~,' Fran hummed, 'See you!'

'Heh. Good luck.'

Bel's POV

Bel smiled and brought Fran into the indented area of rock that had filled with water.

"Heyy, Froggy."

"Shesheshe, he seems to know you now," Jill snickered, lying down beside Bel.

"You bet he does, he's a smart Froggy~," hummed the younger prince.

"Sheshe. Hey, what are we going to do with our crowns?" Jill asked.

"I was thinking we could put them in the pond. That way, no one will see them."

"The pond?" repeated Jill. "Oh, Bel, the things you think up."

"Shishishi~ Well, I'll do that with mine," Bel said, easing his crown into the pond. He made sure no creatures were there and set it in all the way.

"Mm, you do that," Jill chuckled. "Hey, why don't you introduce me to your tadpole, Bel?"

Fran's POV

Fran heard the sound 'Bel' and perked up.

'Who's that, Belphegor? Why does he know your name?'

"Hey, Froggy, this is my brother, Rasiel. Okay? Rasiel... Rasiel..."

Fran understood what a repeated word meant. A repeated word was something important. It must be the other human's name. 'Rr... ray... rasie-el..., right? Sounds like a bird call.'

'H-hi, Rasiel~ Nice to meet you!' Fran greeted, turning to the other human and nodding at him as though acknowledging him. 'But did Belphegor say that you were something to him? ... Maybe... family?' Fran looked back and forth between the humans. They looked almost exactly the same, now that he realized it. But he knew which one was Belphegor because of the patches of blue on his face. The other human had blood red on his face. Those were probably eyes, the tadpole realized. 'Oh, are you, perhaps... brothers?'

Bel's POV

"What do you think of that, Jill? He looked right at you," Bel said excitedly. Rasiel nodded.

"Sure looked like it. You've spent a lot of time with that tadpole, haven't you?"

"Yeah, a LOT of time," Bel sighed, "I've started trying to understand him, too. The other day, he tried to talk to me, and I understood."

What did you understand, exactly?" Rasiel asked.

"He told me to move a piece of algae into the cup he was in, and he got me to move him into the grass. It was really cool that I could understand him..."

"Sounds cool," the older prince snickered, "Who knows, maybe one day you'll become famous."

"Shishishi~, nah, I prefer my royalty and my Froggy to fame."

"Shesheshe."

-End Chapter

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><p>:O Dude, I made this chapter LONG! How dooya like them applez? I'm sure you loves those applez, don't ya? Ahaha, I'm on a plane, btw. Just... wanted to say that...<p> 


	11. Chapter 11: Off With Their Head

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Eleven

Ahh, I didn't get many reviews for the last chapter... okay, ACKNOWLEDGEMENT TIME! Everyone who reviewed the past TWO chapters will be recognized now.  
>Thank you, Namimoro and Rei.<br>... HEY! What... are you people busy like my 'Royal Spring' reviewers? Or... oh my... could my stories be...  
>DYING? Okay, sorry, dying is a strong word. But really, if I didn't allow anonymous reviews I'd have no reviews for the last two chapters! (Really... Namimoro, Rei, thank you very much...) Please... I... need... reviews... *inpiration dries up from lack of reviews* DX I'll try to write anyway... for those who still follow and care.<p>

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><p>Bel's POV<p>

"Hey, what's that...?"

"Are those the princes?"

Bel and Jill both heard the voices and hid. Fran, who was originally in the indent of the rock, was pushed safely back into the pond by Belphegor. Rasiel set his crown in the pond at the same time, and both princes hid behind a bush where they had previously stored their bedsheets. "Jill, take off the cloak, that'll give you away..."

"The rings too, Bel..."

"Ugh... where'd they go?"

"Bel, our bangs...!"

"Here, I'll take a knife to them... stay still."

Rasiel stood fearfully still as Belphegor cut away his bangs, then took the knife to do the same to his brother. Bel thought for something else to help them, and he began to rip his own clothes.

"Quickly, Jill," he said quietly.

"That's not enough," his brother growled, though he tore his clothes too. Jill thought quickly and threw some dirt at Bel.

"Hey!"

"We need to be filthy, Bel, just deal with that."

"... Okay, fine. Ah, let's take off our boots too."

The princes quickly got themselves as messy as they could possibly be, and Bel sighed with relief when he realized that they looked like commoners.

"Hey! Where are you kids? Get out here!"

Bel and Jill stood and faced the men. "Huh...? Who're you...?" Bel said in a disguised voice.

"We're just out here hunting for our family," Rasiel lied, "Right, Tom?"

Bel had to be bumped to realize that was his name, but he quickly recovered. "Oh, sorry, Jack, I thought I saw a rabbit in those bushes over there... but it got away already."

"Ahh, must be all the noise," Rasiel sighed. He prevented a grin at Bel and looked back to the men. "Sorry, did you guys need something?"

"We're looking for the princes, Belphegor and Rasiel."

"Hah? You mean those fancy kids that were runnin' through here?" Rasiel asked. "We thought we'd go and rough 'em up for their clothes, but they had knives on 'em, the prissy rich kids..."

"They got my arm, see?" Belphegor protested. "Man, it still stings. It's like they had some sort of poison on their knives..."

"That's just the dirt in the open wound, Tom," one of the men muttered. "Stupid kid..."

"So what dooya want from us?" Rasiel asked. "If it'll help, they runned off thadaway, but they was throwing knives at us, so we 'ad to hide behind this 'ere bush. We've been 'ere since then."

"Man, for rich kids, they sure had good aim," Belphegor muttered, clutching his arm. "They nearly took off Ji- er, Jack's head."

The men seemed to mull over whether this story was liable, and eventually they decided to send all but one member off for the princes. The one man left behind would stay behind and watch the 'stupid kids'.

Bel and Jill glanced at each other when the last man didn't leave. Bel smiled, however, proving he had a plan.

"Jack, why don't we go and look for that rabbit?" he asked.

"Oh, sure. If we're lucky, it's somewhere nearby grazing."

"Wouldn't papa be proud if we brought home a whole rabbit?" Bel said in a falsely excited voice.

"Yes, but what 'bout sister? She might cry... she's wun of them rabbit lovers."

"Ah, that would be a problem..."

"But I did hear that wild pigs were out in these woods."

"I heard papa's caught those before!"

"Ushesheshe- ah-" Jill slapped his hands over his mouth. They'd completely lost their dialect, so eventually he had dropped his guard and accidentally allowed the strange laugh past his lips. There wasn't a being in the kingdom that didn't know every little thing about the princes. It was practically a school subject!

"I knew there was something strange about you kids," growled the man who'd been left behind. "But I do commend you on making a mess of each other in such little time."

"Jill," Bel whispered, stressed.

"I'm sorry," his brother returned. "Shall we die together, then?"

"We are not getting shot down like a couple of rabid beasts," Belphegor hissed, "When we die, we'll be rulers of the kingdom. ... Not that I'm sharing my throne with you."

"That's right," Jill said, taking his brother's hand and squeezing it in his own. "We need to control the monarchy."  
>"Come on, then, we need to get past this guy."<p>

"You kids done with last words?" the man spat, getting his gun out. Both princes instantly bolted in different directions, and when the man began to aim at Bel, Jill threw a knife at him. He grunted with pain and turned on Jill, his eyes angry. Jill dove for bush cover just as his brother threw three more knives with a single hand, his aim very well developed. Bel hid behind a tree as a shot was fired at him, and Jill took the opportunity to, since he had only been given one knife, throw a rock at the man.

"Hey! I'm wide open!" Jill taunted, running past the man and barely making it into another bush by turning quickly and managing a skillful backflip that rounded around the shot. He managed to land in more shrub cover. Meanwhile, Belphegor had silently gotten rather close to the man, and he managed to stab a knife into the arm that held the gun, so the man yelped and dropped the gun. Bel smirked, kicking the gun away, but he was unable to avoid the punch that he was dealt.

Bel hit the ground from recieving the hard blow to the stomach, but he quickly had a knife drawn for defense while in his other hand he prepared to throw some more. Jill, during the priceless distraction, managed to get a hold of another rock, and he was able to throw it roughly into their captor's back. He howled with pain, scrunching his face up, and immediately, Bel was after him, finally managing to put a deep cut into his throat. Strangled choking noises were made as the man coughed blood, and both princes couldn't help looking away. Jill stepped forward from his place behind the man, took the back of his head with one hand, and said, just loud enough.

"Off with your head, sir, and may everyone learn a lesson from this."

Bel had cut the throat just deep enough for what Jill did next. Jill pulled backwards, hard, and at just the right angle.

SNAP.

"Jill," breathed Bel, blinking as blood spattered his face.

"Mm, not the easiest task, but once the spinal chord is broken, it's definently the end. Paralysis is the least of your worries, rioter."

Bel used a knife to sever the rest of the skin that was still connected, and the princes let both body and head fall to the ground. They both immediately turned away from the scene, and walked back to the pond. Bel knelt down and began to use the water to cleanse his face of the blood, while Jill hastily washed his hands. "Jill, they're going to come back."

"I know. But when they see what happened to him, they should give up, right?" Rasiel mumbled.

"Jill, there are at least five of them and only two of us. We're just lucky we got stuck with a younger one. The rest of them are like... thirty."

"Hm."

Belphegor saw Froggy at the surface of the water, looking like he was waiting for him. He sighed and reached into the pond, then took out their crowns. "Wrap these up with your cloak. I'll get the bedsheets."

"Where are we going?" Jill asked.

"Back to the castle," Bel murmured, "for our parents."

"Okay," Jill eventually agreed, "I suppose we should."

The princes retrieved their belongings and headed back into the castle. Everything was silent, and blood decorated the walls. They put their things on the ground and went to look around, and eventually found their mother. She was alive.

"Mother!" the princes called in unison. The queen saw them and walked over, then hugged them tightly. "Oh, Bel, Jill, both of you are safe! My, but what happened to your lovely bangs? And your clothes!"

"They found us, so we tried to disguise ourselves," Bel announced.

"Don't worry, Mother, we only had to behead one of them," Jill said proudly, but his remark was overlooked.

"Okay, both of you go take a shower and get cleaned up. It's okay; everything's safe now. Your father was injured, but he's alive. And I'm here too."

The princes nodded and ran off, both wanting to get to the bathroom first. They simultaneously grabbed the doorknob.

"... Shower together?" Jill suggested.

"Only because we're identical and we need to conserve water," Bel agreed.

Fran's POV

'Belphegor? Who's blood is this? Where are you going?' Fran called, but the human and his brother had already left. Fran backed off, frustrated, and looked around the pond. A lot of his siblings were staring at him.

'Who's... Belphegor?' asked Chrome.

'He's my friend,' said Fran.

'Well then where is he?' asked Mukuro, his body language portraying a challenge.

'Now, Mukuro, don't pick on your brother,' Tsuna spoke, 'Belphegor is Fran's human friend.'

There was a pause, before all of Fran's siblings simply swam away. Fran's heart sunk along with the rest of him. He landed in the soft sand and began to recall the visions he'd been having.

'You are special. You're extreme intelligence proves that you will be the next chosen to carry out the old legend of a frog turning into a person. You will learn the human language before you become one. You will know when the time is near. Just don't run from your destiny. You cannot escape it.'

Fran instinctively knew that only he was having that dream. No other tadpole would stay quiet about something like that.

'What does it mean? I can't become human... I'm going to become a frog!'

'... Right...?'

-End Chapter

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><p>Well... Your review...?<p> 


	12. Chapter 12: Speech Creates a Link

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Twelve

X'D I'm sorry, I would've uploaded so much sooner, but I complained to my Royal Spring reviewers too and both groups bombarded me with reviews! XP I'm not complaining, of course...

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><p>'Belphegor, you have been chosen to carry out the old legend with a frog turning into a human being. The tadpole you are bonding with is special, and, once he has grown into a frog, you can change him into a human by kissing him... You are to teach him human speech. A link will develop between you and him as soon as he begins his transformation into maturity. That's how you will track his progress. Do not run; you cannot escape your destiny.'<p>

The next day, morning

By then, the kingdom had settled back into routine. The rioters had dispersed once again, leaving Belphegor and his brother once again free to do as they please. Though their father was injured, he was likely to recover soon with the 'high class' treatment he was recieving.

Jill had bled a little from the whole deal, however; the excitement, the running, the adrenaline, it had all caused the wound on his head to reopen slightly, but it wasn't serious, since it was only a small tear in the skin beneath the bandage on his head. Bel's arm was still healing; it was probably the lightest injury since the bullet had only grazed his arm, not breaking any bones, even though it cut through some muscle and hurt like hell.

The younger prince was no longer asked to hunt the royal family's dinner, but, since his father was in no state to tell him 'no', he was allowed to go into the forest and visit his Froggy often.

Bel recalled his previous visions as he walked out to the forest and frowned. 'I must've let some kid's show get to my head,' he thought, 'or maybe it was just a story Mother told Jill and I a long time ago.' He had taken a cup with him this time, hoping he and his frog could communicate once more. The prince brushed his thoughts aside when he heard footsteps behind him, and he turned on his heel, knives in his hand.

"Who's there?" he asked, glaring, but he settled when he saw it was just his brother.

"I came to see you and your little pet," Jill told him defensively.

"Oh, sorry, I thought you were one of THEM," Bel muttered, putting his knives away.

"The rioters are gone, Bel, don't be paranoid," Rasiel sighed, walking over to the younger prince. "Let's go."

Fran's POV

Fran saw his friend and swam to the surface of the water, inaudibly calling out 'Belphegor!' He then saw the human's sibling, and nodded to him, mouthing, 'and hello to you too, Rasiel.'

For once in a while, the clear container was dipped into the ground, and Fran swam right into it, happy that the human had brought that out again. He was picked up and placed on the rocks, and he felt really happy when he heard, "Hi, Froggy."

The tadpole tried to get to the human's eye level, but Belphegor already had his chin on the rocks, the water level didn't go any higher, and he still wasn't able to gaze right into those eyes that looked like the sky. The tadpole moved his gills slowly, taking in the human's appearance for a while. He was giving off a pleasant, calm aura that also soothed Fran. It was nice, a good break from all of his siblings' stress.

"Hey, Froggy, I haven't seen your mother in a while...," Bel whispered, "Where is she?"

'Maybe if I let Belphegor know what happened to mother he'll share this energy with all of us...,' Fran thought, but the thought of sharing the human suddenly made Fran feel really bad. 'No... Belphegor belongs to me. No one else, just me.'

"Oh-" Belphegor dipped his claw into the water, pulling back what Fran had previously thought to be a sort of shell (A/N: it's just his sleeve), and he pulled up a piece of algae. "Are you hungry, Froggy?" Fran saw the algae and felt heat rush to his cheeks.

'You're so friendly, Belphegor,' he murmured as the human put the algae in the container.

"There you are, Froggy."

'Hey,' Fran spoke up, nibbling at the algae. 'Could I ask you something?'

The tadpole nuzzled the algae and looked back at Belphegor, then nuzzled against it once more. 'What is it called by humans?' he asked.

"Yes, Froggy, I know you like the algae... ah- that's algae... algae..."

"What are you doing, Bel?"

"Did you see how he looked at me when I said 'algae'? He was suddenly very intrested."

'Algae,' Fran repeated, looking at it. 'It sounds so different when they say it like that. I can't even really describe that sound. A heavy raindrop as it hits the water's surface... I suppose that's as close as I can get.' Fran looked around the container and realized that he needed a word for that too. He swam around the cup, never leaving the edge, but constantly looking back up at Belphegor.

"That's a glass," Belphegor said, "glass... glass..."

'Okay, don't know how to describe 'glass',' Fran sighed, before realizing something.

'You will learn the human language before you become one.'

Bel's POV

"Oh-," Belpehgor stopped what he was doing and covered his mouth. 'What am I doing? And why do I feel funny...?'

'You are to teach him human speech.'

"What's the matter, Bel?" Rasiel asked, "Did you realize that the tadpole's never gonna understand human talk?"

"No... it's nothing," Bel whispered, looking down.

'If I teach Froggy how to talk, will he turn into a person?'

'Wh... ... ss... nn... mm...'

Belphegor clutched his head, hearing the muffled noises.

'l...ph...g...r...'

"Are you saying something, Jill?" asked the prince, looking at his brother. Jill shook his head. "Well do you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Rasiel asked, looking concerned.

"Ah... n-nothing...," Bel stuttered.

'A... link...?' the younger prince wondered.

'B...l...ph...gr...'

'What is this?' he thought, suddenly looking closer at the tadpole. He noticed tiny stubs just beneath the tadpole's tail. 'He's... developing his hind legs!' the prince realized, 'his... transformation into maturity...?'

'Be...l...phe...gur...'

Belphegor saw the tadpole's mouth move as he heard the muffled word. "Froggy, are you... talking to me?" he asked, his heart throbbing in his chest.

'Bel...phe...gor...,' came the muffled voice.

"Oh my god...," Belphegor breathed, before passing out. Rasiel sat there for an awkward moment.

"Great. Now my brother's going mad," he mumbled.

While he was passed out, all Belphegor could hear was his own name, being repeated over and over... getting louder every time. Clearer every time.

The link had begun to develop.

-End Chapter

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><p>I actually uploaded chapter nine at first... XD Thanks, Rei!<p>

I'm really sorry for the short chapter, I was in a slump over what to do next! DX I'll think of something great for the next chapter! What do you guys think of the whole 'link' thing, anyway? ... I'm sorry... you reviewed so much... and I slumped... *beats self up*


	13. Chapter 13: I I AM I am Fran

The Prince and His Pet Chapter 13

I'm really sorry for the short chapter last time... I'LL WORK HARDER LIKE MAH LIFE DEPENDS ON IT!  
>And thanks again, Rei, I felt pretty silly when I saw that I'd uploaded the wrong chapter. X)<p>

Story/Plot-Related Notice: Once Fran's vocabulary has expanded and the 'link' becomes stronger, his dialogue will be in quotation marks (") instead of apostrophes ('), even though Belphegor will still be the only one who can understand him. Just a heads up!

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><p>Bel's POV<p>

"Oh, my, I believe he's coming to..."

"Shesheshe, come on, Bel, it's pretty pathetic that you can't even open your eyes."

'Belphegor... Belphegor...'

Bel's light blue eyes opened and he sat up, looking around. "Where... the castle?" he asked.

"Of course you're in the castle," Rasiel sighed, shaking his head in disappointment. "Gosh, Bel, I thought you'd died and left the throne all to me."

"Heh, don't be ridiculous. If I died, I'd take you down with me," the younger prince snickered.

"Come now, you needn't talk so easily about death," Elizabeth hushed the princes, "Bel, tell me what happened."

'Belphegor... glass...'

"Oh, yeah, well, I had the tadpole in a glass...," Bel began, just going off of what he thought were his own thoughts.

'Belphegor... algae... glass...'

"Yeah, yeah, I put some algae in the glass for the tadpole to eat...," the prince recalled.

'Belphegor... ...Froggy.'

Bel suddenly clutched his head. 'These aren't my own thoughts!' he realized. 'That's right... Froggy began talking to me!"

'Belphegor... glass... ... Froggy, Belphegor...'

"It's all so wierd," the prince whispered, "Mother, is there... a legend?"

'Belphegor...'

"A legend... about a frog and a human?"

"... Yes, Bel, I believe you're talking about 'The Princess and the Frog.' There's a book in the library, if you'd like to read it... but remember, it's just a legend."

"I know."

'Belphegor... Rasiel.'

Suddenly, the younger of the princes perked up, hearing his brother's name. 'He knows Jill's name, too?'

'Rasiel...'

"God, can't you just shut up for a little...?" Bel wondered aloud. He rubbed his head, then realized that the queen and his older brother were staring at him. "Oh, not you! I just... sh-shishi... I'm thinking too much right now... and I'm telling myself to calm down."

"Is that so...?" murmured the queen. "You know where the library is, right? I'll get someone to get that book for you-"

"No," Bel interrupted, grinning, "I'll find it myself."

Fran's POV

'Belphegor and Rasiel are brothers, I think,' Fran told Tsuna. 'Belphegor told me that he calls food algae, and the container he holds me in is called a glass. And he calls me Froggy. That's all the human language I know.'

'Hmm? Quite the wide vocabulary, for your age. I can barely understand a thing you're saying, haha...,' Tsuna chuckled, 'Ah, well if you ever learn it all, make sure you talk to me in their language.'

'Of course I will,' Fran said proudly.

'Oh, and I noticed that you're starting to develop you're hind legs. You're on your way to becoming an adult, little one!'

'What? Really?' Fran gasped, turning around to try and look at his stubby hind legs. He couldn't see anything, however, since he couldn't bend around to see.

'Yes, really,' the catfish laughed, 'Oh, I would love to see you play with that human when you become a frog, Fran. That would be amazing. But you'll probably be too small anyway...'

'Yeah... Mother was smaller than his claw,' Fran agreed, starting to feel a pang of sadness when he remembered his mother.

'Aww, Fran, cheer up. See, all of your siblings have already moved on... can't you?' asked Tsuna, 'It's just how this world is. We are born, we grow, we live, we die.'

'But I miss her,' Fran murmured, settling into the sand as the catfish slowly swam circles around him. 'I want mother back.'

'She's not coming back,' Tsuna said deeply, also letting himself sink into the sand. 'Fran, please, it's just life.'

'I know,' the tadpole whispered, only moving his gills. 'I guess I'm really just wierd.'

'Number twenty-six!' called the minnow, swimming over. 'That human is here again, he's already dipped that thing in the water.'

Fran looked across the pond and saw the glass submerged by the human's claw. 'Thanks, minnow,' he said, before swimming over to the cup quickly. 'Belphegor! I'm here! I'm in the glass!'

And the glass was picked up and placed on the rocks.

Bel's POV

'Belphegor! ... ... glass!'

That was all the prince had to hear. He picked the cup back up out of the water and set it beside him on the rocks. "I'm gonna read you a story today, Froggy," he told the tadpole, the book titled 'The Princess and the Frog' held in his hand.

'Belphegor!'

"Yes?"

'Belphegor!' Froggy repeated. Bel looked at him, his heartbeat increasing.

"Yes...?"

Fran's POV

'Belphegor, tell me what you're holding!' Fran called.

"Yes...?"

Fran thought for a moment. 'He doesn't understand,' he thought, thinking of a human substitute for the word 'what'. 'It sounded something like a fox bark,' Fran recalled. 'Hot? No... Hut? Closer...'

Bel's POV

'Hot? ... Hut?'

Bel looked at the tadpole, curious. "Yes, Froggy?" he repeated.

'What?'

The prince's eyes widened and he looked at the book, then at Fran. His voice shook as he pointed to the book and said, "Book. This is a book. Book..."

'Book...?'

"Th-that's right," Bel stuttered, nodding. "Book."

'Book.'

"Good job, Froggy."

The prince watched as the tadpole swam in a circle around the cup. 'Book! Belphegor... book!' The tadpole nuzzled the side of the cup. 'Glass!' Then, Froggy brushed against a piece of algae that had been automatically picked up by the cup. 'Algae.'

Froggy looked back up at the prince. 'Belphegor!'

Bel's heart might have exploded in his chest from the excitement. "Yes, Froggy, this is a book. And I'm Belphegor. And that's a glass, and that's algae..."

'... Y... ye... yes...?'

Fran's POV

Belphegor had said 'yes' a few times too. Maybe that was a confirmation? A response to a question? 'It sounds a lot like the wind, but there's something else there. That first part... I don't really understand how to describe that. Y... ye... yes...? Ah, I think that's right. There's a few other smaller words he says a lot, too. Like 'this' and 'is'. The sss sound sounds like the wind. I wonder how he can make that sound?'

Bel's POV

'This... is...'

Bel realized that the tadpole was repeating words the prince often said and gulped. 'This will be difficult,' he thought, before placing his book on the ground and pointing at the tadpole.

"You. You ARE. You are Froggy." Bel pointed to himself. '"I. I AM. I am Belphegor." He picked up the book. "This. This IS a book." Then he tapped the glass. "That. That is. That is a glass."

The tadpole seemed to take a while comprehending it, before he looked up at the prince.

'You... are... Belphegor?'

Bel grinned and nodded. "Yes, I am Belphegor."

'I am...'

"You are Froggy."

'I am...'

"What's wrong?" Bel asked quietly. 'Is he having trouble with saying Froggy?' the prince wondered.

Fran's POV

'I am Fran! I am Fran!' the tadpole insisted. 'He can't understand when I say something of my own language... how would a human say 'Fran'?'

Bel's POV

'Maybe he's not trying to tell me that he is Froggy. He could be trying to say something else,' the prince realized.

"Froggy?"

'I am...'

Fran's POV

'I think my name would sound like 'Froggy', but it would have more of a bird chirp sound... like glass, but still different... it would be a bunch of combined sounds that I've learned... Fr... Fra... ...I don't know what to do for the last sound...'

Bel's POV

'Froggy... glass... Fr... Fra...'

"Fra...?" the prince repeated. He got an idea of what it was just from the fragment of a name. "Fran?"

Fran's POV

'Fra...n? ... That sounds right,' the tadpole thought, before nodding at the prince. 'Y... yes. Fran. I am Fran.'

Bel's POV

'Y... yes. Fran. I am Fran.'

Bel's heart began to race as he lied down on his stomach and let out a breath he'd been holding. 'Froggy has a name? I hadn't thought that he'd already been named.'

"Fran," the prince repeated. The name sounded nice, and it didn't sound unusual; actually, it almost sounded like a human name. "Fran," he said again. He grinned, "You are Fran?"

'Yes.'

The prince giggled softly, drumming his fingers on the cover of his book. "I should've learned this one sooner. Fran..."

-End Chapter

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><p>Looks like I'm really pushing the borders of reality here. Heh heh... well it can't be realistic forever! What do you all think? Good? Bad? Please review so I know!<p> 


	14. Chapter 14: Lussuria

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Fourteen

NOTICE: I WILL BE GONE FOR APPROXIMATELY FIVE DAYS BECAUSE I HAVE TO GO TO SEE A RELATIVE'S WEDDING IN ANOTHER STATE... SO YEAH, AND I (PROBABLY) WON'T HAVE INTERNET. ... I'LL BE WRITING AS OFTEN AS I CAN, THOUGH, SO I MIGHT UPLOAD A COUPLE TIMES WHEN I RETURN. :)

Heh... I GOT REVIEWSSSSS! SO HAPPYYYY~~~ Ahaha, I'm killing the '~' key, I should stop that. XP

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><p>That night...<p>

Bel's POV

Bel lied in bed, listening to Fran as the tadpole practiced his English.

'You are... that is...'

'Ahh...,' Bel inwardly sighed, 'there's a lot of things that Fro- er... Fran is still saying in his own way.'

'I am Fran. That is algae. This is...'

"Ushishi," Bel giggled, causing Rasiel to sit up and look at him.

"You've been laughing to yourself for the past twenty minutes, Bel, what's your problem?" Rasiel asked quietly, but still with an air of distaste.

"Nothing in particular," the younger prince managed between shi's.

"You've been creepy lately," Rasiel muttered, "As though you can hear something that I can't."

"... Ushishi~."

'Rasiel is... Belphegor...'

'Oh, does he know Jill is my brother? Ah, well, he'll have to learn the word 'brother', and possessives like Belphegor's... I wonder if I can get him to call me Bel. Saying my full name takes too much time. I just hope that Fran goes to sleep soon... I'm getting tired, and he won't shut up.'

"Hey, Bel," Rasiel called.

"Yeah?"

"... You took the book out to the forest to read it to your tadpole, didn't you?"

Bel didn't answer, but he giggled quietly, confirming his brother's suspicions.

"You're so wierd."

The next day...

Fran's POV

Fran woke up after having that dream once again.

'I want to learn his language anyway... but if I do, will I really be able to turn into a human?'

The tadpole swam to the surface of the water. 'I wonder where Belphegor is... maybe he's at his home right now. ... But where does Belphegor live? I really would like to find that out...'

'Good morning, Fran,' hummed a voice from behind the tadpole. Fran turned.

'Morning, Tsuna~,' he greeted. 'You are Tsuna. I am Fran, that is algae.'

'Mm, you're very good at that, Fran...,' Tsuna chuckled, 'but please talk so that I may understand you.'

Fran laughed lightly, nuzzling into the catfish's side. 'Sorry, Tsuna.'

'Fraaaan~,' called Lussuria, swimming over, 'Why don't we eat together this morning?'

Fran turned to his brother. 'Yes.'

'H-huh...?'

'Heh, I meant sure,' Fran laughed.

'Yeah, go have fun with your brother,' Tsuna invited, flapping a fin and pushing Fran closer to his sibling.

'Huu, Frannie, where do you want to eat? Mukuro and his little crowd are taking up the main feeding ground...,' Lussuria told the younger tadpole.

'We could go eat with the minnow,' Fran said, indicating to a smaller patch of algae where Lambo was scavenging for invertebrates.

'Sure,' Lussuria agreed, and the siblings swam down to where the minnow was.

'Hi, Lambo,' Fran greeted.

'Yo, number-twenty-six and... ... Lussuria.'

'Hey, why can't I be called by my name?' Fran asked, pouting.

'I'm sorry, Fran... my number system's a bit defective.'

'Then don't use it!'

'Heh...'

'Fran... let's eat,' Lussuria invited, swimming over to the algae.

'Yeah.'

Fran nibbled at the algae, ignoring Lambo's whining about how that was where he was scavenging, and mumbled to Lussuria, 'Do you dream?'

'Of course I dream, Frannie, everyone dreams,' Lussuria hummed.

'What do you dream about?'

'Well, a lot of things. Sometimes I dream about mother, and every now and then, I'll dream about riding a bird.'

Fran thought that the idea of his brother riding a bird was priceless, but he tried not to comment.

'What do you dream about, Frannie?' Lussuria asked.

'Oh... uhm... humans.'

'Humans?'

'Yeah... Since I'm learning their language and hanging out with Belphegor... I guess that's why.'

'Aww, that's so cute...,' Lussuria sighed, 'I wish I could talk to humans.'

'Hm...,' was the younger tadpole's only response as he continued to eat the algae.

'Mukuro and Spade have already started developing their front limbs... I wonder when we'll get ours.'

Fran looked over at his brother. Lussuria's hind legs were bigger than Fran's, but not by much.

'Lussuria... why do you dream about mother?'

'Well, everyone does. We dream about what it was like to have her with us and what it will be like when we're fully grown like her. That's why we never have to think about her while we're awake.'

'Oh...'

Bel's POV

Bel walked over to the door, and Rasiel chased after him. "Are you going out to the forest?" he asked.

"Yeah, why? Do you want to come too?"

"May I?"

"Sure."

The other prince grinned. "I'm glad I can tag along during your most important time with your Froggy."

"Fran."

"Huh?"

"His name is Fran," Bel told his brother, "he told me himself."

Rasiel took a moment to mull over what Bel had said, then laughed lightly. "Shesheshe, crazy."

"I know it is," Bel agreed, and they walked out of the castle, just accepting things like that. Rasiel took off his crown and wrapped it in his cloak, then set it in the ground. Bel just took off his crown and hid it in the grass, and they continued on to the forest.

"You know, Bel, I've been wondering..."

"Hm?"

"Do you believe in that legend? The one about the princess and the frog?"

"... No, why would I believe in a legend?"

"That's what I want to know."

They came over to the pond, and Bel sat down, dipping the cup into the water. He waited for a moment, and eventually he heard, 'This is a glass. I am Fran.'

He whistled, impressed, lifting the glass out of the pond and putting it on the stone. "Yes, Fran. Good job."

Fran almost smiled at the prince, and Belphegor saw that there was another tadpole there this time.

'You are Belphegor.'

"Yes, I am," Belphegor replied.

'This is...,' Fran said, looking at his brother.

"Ahh, need to figure out his name, don't we?" Bel sighed, lying down. "Try it, Fran... I'll see if I get it."

'...uss...urrr...'

"Ussur?" Bel repeated.

'L...usss...urr...i-ah.'

"Lussuria?" Bel asked. "Is that right, Fran?"

'... Lussuria...?' Fran seemed to ask his friend if that was correct, and the other tadpole nodded and mouthed something to Fran. The tadpole looked back at Belphegor. 'Yes. This is Lussuria.'

"Nice to meet you, Lussuria," Belphegor greeted, smiling at the other tadpole.

"What the hell?" Rasiel muttered, also looking at the tadpoles. "Lussuria? That sounds gay."

"Shut up," Bel snapped at his brother, "Don't insult the tadpoles."

'Rasiel!' Fran greeted, looking at the older prince.

"Yes," Belphegor agreed. "That is Rasiel."

"Bel...?" Rasiel muttered, "You two are talking about me."

"Yeah, actually, we are."

'Lussuria is...'

"Mm, Lussuria is your brother?" Bel asked. "Rasiel is my brother."

Fran looked a bit confused for a moment, but he nodded.

'Bro...th-er.'

Fran's POV

Lussuria was a nice name. It sounded like the hiss of wind through a fracture in a rock, a sort of whistle. And 'brother' was probably what Fran had been trying to say for so long. It sounded like a small bark from a fox. Fran had brought Lussuria along because his brother thought that foreign languages were romantic, and hearing his name in the human language just drove his brother crazy. For Lussuria, having a human friend was amazing.

-End Chapter

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><p>I apologize for the abrupt chapter ending, but I have twenty minutes to get this edited and uploaded before I go to the airport...! Please review while I'm gone!<p> 


	15. Chapter 15: Translating

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Fifteen

Ahh... I'm only on the plane, and yet I'm already writing... at... 1:38 in the morning. *yaaaawn...* Gosh... I must really love you guys, hm? Well let's see if I can finish it before I get off the plane! Muahaha... I'ma try to bombard you all when I get back to the internet...

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><p>Right after where I left off...<p>

"Hm... so Lussuria is your brother. I imagine you have many brothers, Fran, but Rasiel is my only brother."

'What?'

"Ahh... can't get across, can I? Don't mind it, Fran," Bel murmured, putting a finger into the glass and letting Fran nuzzle into it.

'Belphegor...'

"Bummer I don't really hear a voice from you... that would be nice...," Bel hummed, petting Fran softly. Lussuria swam up and copied Fran by nuzzling into the prince's finger. "I won't be able to hear Lussuria since he's not my special tadpole... but that's okay, 'cause if he asks me anything, you'll tell me, right Fran?"

'This is a glass.'

"Shishishi, yes, Fran, yes it is."

"Bel," Rasiel sighed, putting a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You hear something."

"I hear Fran," Bel agreed. "Loud and clear as my own thoughts."

"Really... well it doesn't involve me," the older prince muttered, standing, "I'll be back at the castle if you need me."

'Rasiel!'

"He's calling you," Bel said, "Or perhaps he's saying goodbye?"

"Later, Fran," Rasiel mumbled, before walking away.

'Belphegor...?'

"Yes, Fran?"

'I... you.'

"What?"

'I l... you.'

"...L...?"

'L... li...'

"Lie?"

'Li...Like... I like you.'

"Good translating, Fran, I like you, too."

And Bel could've sworn that his tadpole had blushed.

Fran's POV

'I like you, Belphegor!' Fran announced.

'You figured it out?' Lussuria asked. His brother nodded.

'Like sounds like a really high-pitched bird call. Hear it? Like. Like. I like you, Lussuria.'

'Oh, Frannie,' Lussuria gushed, 'So sweet. Hey, tell Belphegor I like him.'

Fran nodded and looked up at Belphegor. 'Lussuria like you!' he called.

"Lussuria LIKES me?" Belphegor corrected.

'Oh, it's different for names,' Fran realized. 'Yes, Lussuria likes you.'

"I like Lussuria, too," the human replied.

'He says he likes you,' Fran told Lussuria. His older brother swam circles around the glass, making a flustered sort of squeal. Fran laughed lightly, looking back at Bel. 'Algae?' he asked. The human nodded, then took a piece of algae from the pond, setting it inside the glass. 'The algae is inside the glass,' Fran said. 'Man, most of that I said in our language.

"The algae is INSIDE the glass," Bel spoke up, dipping his claw back into the glass and twirling it inside the water..

'In...side...,' Fran repeated. 'The algae is inside the glass. I am inside the glass. Lussuria is inside the glass.'

"Yes," Bel confirmed. "I am not inside the glass."

Fran looked out at Bel. 'You are n...not inside the glass?'

"I am not inside the glass," Bel repeated, nodding.

'Belphegor... what is... this?" Fran asked, touching his nose to the prince's claw. Belphegor smiled.

"That is my finger."

'My fin...ger?'

"No, MY finger. And this is YOUR tail." Bel said, brushing his claw over Fran's tail. The tadpole realized what the idea was.

'This is YOUR finger?'

"Yes."

'And this is MY tail?'

"Yes."

Fran nodded and looked at Lussuria.

'Lussuria is MY brother.'

"Rasiel is MY brother," Belphegor added.

'Rasiel is YOUR brother.'

"Lussuria is YOUR brother.'

Fran felt hot under his eyes again. This was so cool. He was having a conversation with Belphegor.

"Fran."

'Yes?'

"I like you."

'I like you, Belphegor.'

"Do you want me to read you that book again?"

'What?'

Belphegor sighed. "Nevermind that."

Fran had already noticed that 'Nevermind' or 'it's nothing' meant for him to forget the previous sentence and move on.

'Belphegor,' he called.

"Bel," the human said.

'What?'

The human indicated to himself. "Call me Bel."

'... Bel?'

"Yes."

'Must be a nickname, since it's so short,' Fran thought to himself, before speaking to Belphegor again. 'I like my brother, Lussuria.'

"I like Lussuria," Bel agreed, "I do not like my brother, Rasiel."

'Not is a negative word, right? He doesn't like his own brother?' Fran wondered, looking up at the human, thinking of a question word. 'Wh...wha... wha-i? Why?' he asked.

"Rasiel does not like me," Belphegor told Fran, "He and I fight."

'F-fi- fight...?'

Belphegor nodded, then took a twig and snapped it. "Fight."

'Oh. Maybe he means... they attack each other? Why would brothers do that...?'

'It could be a dominence thing, Frannie,' Lussuria interrupted, 'Like how foxes and birds do.'

'I wonder why they can't just get along,' Fran wondered. 'Like us.'

'Well, different species have different habits, Frannie,' Lussuria sighed, 'Just accept it.'

'Okay...,' Fran said, before looking back up at Belphegor. 'I am inside the glass.'

"Yes, you are," Belphegor agreed, sighing. "And so is Lussuria, and the algae, and my finger, and the water."

'Water...?'

"Water." Bel cupped his hand in the pond and brought some up, then poured it into the glass. "Water."

'Yes.'

"Shishishi...," Bel giggled. "Rasiel is my brother, but we fight."

'b...but... we...,' Fran repeated. 'Lussuria is my brother, but we like...'

"Each other," Belphegor completed. "Say 'and'. Lussuria is your brother, AND you like each other."

'Lussuria is my brother, and we like each other.'

"That's right," the human said.

'Bel, are we...'

"Are we what?"

'... en... r...rends...'

"Are we friends?"

'That is what I s...said.'

"Yes, Fran, we are friends."

'Yes.'

"Mm... Lussuria is your friend?"

'Lussuria is my brother.'

"Is he your friend, too?"

'What?'

"He can be both your brother and your friend."

'... bo...s...bo...th... both?' Fran asked. 'It's like a deep dog bark again... a lot of human words sound wierd like that. Why do they copy OTHER animal's sounds?'

"Rasiel is my brother, but he is not my friend. He is not both my brother and my friend," Bel told his tadpole.

Fran's head was spinning from the sudden two sentences. 'Woah... I... understood him...!'

'Lussuria is both my brother and my friend. He is my brother, and he is my friend. Yes?'

"Yes."

Lussuria made another squealing noise. 'My, Fran, that was amazing~!'

'Thanks, Luss. Oh, I need to tell Belphegor your nickname.'

'Okay, honey, go ahead,' Lussuria urged, desperate to hear the 'amazingly romantic' human language. He was like that with birds, too.

'Bel!' Fran called.

"Yes, Fran?"

'Lussuria... c..ca... all... call he Luss.'

"Call HIM Luss?" the human corrected.

'Call him Luss. It is like Bel.'

"It's a nickname," Bel added.

'Ni...nick...name...? ... Yes.'

"Okay. I will call Lussuria Luss from now on."

'What? ... Ne...never...nevermind,' Fran said.

"Good job, Fran."

'That was praise, I think,' Fran decided when he heard that, and he felt a shining sort of pride in his chest. 'I like you, Bel, and I like my brother. I like Rasiel, too, but you not like him.'

"I don't like Rasiel. And call him Jill."

'Oh, jeez,' Fran thought, 'What a wierd sound. ...ill... K... Ch... Gh... J-Jill.'

"Good job, Fran," Bel praised, "That is right."

'R... right. Like yes?' Fran asked.

"Yes. Right is like yes."

'O...o-kay,' Fran said.

'A~ah, Fran, it's so beautiful,' Lussuria sang, swimming circles around his idle brother.

'Bel,' Fran began, 'D...do you like your ...p...pa... r...'

"Parents?" Bel asked, "I do. I like my parents a little."

'... A... l...lit-tle?' Fran repeated. 'That doesn't quite sound like it would be the equivalent of all, or much... maybe... a bit? Somewhat? That's gotta be it.'

'Why... a little...?'

"They are my parents, they aren't my friends."

'Can your parents b...be both your parents AND your friends?' Fran asked, uncertain.

"I guess, but not for me."

'Why?'

"My parents don't stay with me a lot."

'What?'

"My parents don't... like me...," Bel said quietly.

'Why not?'

"Because of Rasiel. I hurt him."

'H... hurt?'

"We had a fight."

'Oh, and you hurt him?'

"Yes."

'Your parents don't like you... b-because... you hurt Ra- Jill?'

"Yes."

'Why?'

Fran was confused. First of all, he only got part of what Bel was saying all the time, and if they were SUPPOSED to fight for dominence, why did the parents not like it when Bel 'hurt' his brother. Anyway, what did 'hurt mean?

'What... what is hurt?' Fran asked.

Bel sighed, then considered how he would explain it. He looked in his pocket, then took out a knife. He nodded. "Hurt. When something hurts...," he said, drawing the sharp blade over his finger. Small beads of ruby red blood seeped out of the cut, and Bel showed them to Fran. "It's an injury. When you are hurt, you feel pain."

Fran really could only pick out a few words, but an 'injury' and 'pain' must've all been connected to the word 'hurt'. And blood, as Fran knew that the red liquid was, was a sign of damage to one's body. Not good.

'Bel, you are... hurt...,' Fran said, trailing off at the last word for lack of knowing if that was correct. Bel put his blade away and nodded.

"I am hurt."

'I am... s... so... sorr...y...'

"Don't be sorry. I am alright."

'... Okay...,' Fran mumbled, deciding that Bel must've been fine. It WAS a tiny cut for something so big.

Fran looked back at Lussuria. The other tadpole was swimming against the glass.

'He's injured, isn't he? I want to help him!' Lussuria asked.

'He's fine, Luss. It's just a tiny cut.'

"Fran."

'Oh... yes, Bel?'

"I need to leave."

'What?'

Bel picked up the glass. "I am hungry, so I should go."

'H... hun...gry?'

"Mm hm, I'll teach you that word later. See you."

Bel's POV

Bel let Fran back into the pond and began to head back to the castle.

"There he is!" called a voice. "Prince Rasiel!"

Bel sighed and turned. "You guys really piss me off. I'm prince BELPHEGOR- Oh..."

"Sorry, Jack, but we found out your secret."

"It's Tom!" Bel shouted, before running. "Damn it..."

"He's running!"

"Get him!"

"SHOOT!"

Bel threw his knives in the direction of the voices, but a small grunt of pain indicated that he'd missed vital organs. A bullet whizzed past the prince's head, and he began to run in a zigzag pattern, hoping that he evaded other bullets. He made each turn uneven so that his movements wouldn't be predictable.

"Kill him! Before he gets back to the palace!"

Bel threw another knife behind him, smirking when one of the men fell over frontwards, landing on his chest and pushing the knife further into his heart. "Shishishi! How's that for 'prissy rich kid' aim?" he laughed, before a bullet hit his side. "Ow..."

"You better pray for your life that he wakes back up, you brat!" snarled the other man.

"Dear god," Bel began, before bursting into laughter. "You guys are so hilarious. I'm a prince, you know, I don't have to succomb to your commands. Shishishi... ESPECIALLY your commands to die. I won't be shot. I'm a prince, after all."

-End Chapter

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><p>Haha, well, I'm off the plane by now, but still. I must LOVE you guys! Shishishi, only the day after I landed... I'm taking a break from the series while I'm here, only because I want to extend the vote as much as I can. Got it? Oh, by time I post this, I will have returned, so whatever. Time to write the next chapter! (See, it's not even a cliffhanger 'cause I'm over here!)<p> 


	16. Chapter 16: BANG!

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Sixteen

By the way, I have NO IDEA how many chapters this will be. I'd like to do twenty-six, hehe, but I probably won't be able to stop there. See, I like to write eeeeeverything that happens. Oh, you already knew that? Well...  
>ANYWAY, I am STILL writing for you, right after finishing the previous chapter.<br>I BETTER GET YOUR REVIEWS! Oh, sorry... I'll ask nicely.  
>May I has reviews? Pretty please with princes on top? XP<p>

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><p>Right after I left off... again... and in Bel's POV, of course.<p>

"Prince or not, you're still a brat. I'm going to shoot you dead," growled the man with a gun.

"Let's see about that," Bel agreed, throwing knives behind him and running for it. There was only a miniscule pained noise from the pursuer, and Bel sighed. "I SO could've used this to teach Fran about hurting people. A-gh... my side... u-ushishi... I should shred him for spilling my royal blood..."

Bel slowed to a stop and hid behind a tree.

"I know where you are, you brat!" shouted the man, and footsteps started up loudly.

'I don't have Jill here to break his neck for me. I'm gonna have to be quick.'

BANG.

And there was a sudden, deathly silence.

Fran's POV

'Ahh, that was so cool~,' Lussuria hummed, swimming around Fran. 'I'm so refreshed, we should go rest...'

'Why rest if we're feeling perfectly fine?' Fran asked. 'Really...'

'Oh, well, that's okay. I'm going to go take a nap, Frannie, the excitement was just too much,' the older tadpole told his brother. 'It's okay if you want to stay up and talk to the catfish.'

'Ah, alright,' the younger sighed. He swam over to Tsuna. 'Tsuna! You are not hurt, are you?'

'What are you talking about, Fran?' Tsuna sighed, 'I can't understand a word you're saying.'

'Heh... I know you aren't anyway,' Fran chuckled.

'Aren't what?' the catfish asked. Fran laughed and began to swim away. 'Hey! Aren't what?'

'Nothing, nothing,' the tadpole said, turning around again. 'Bel taught me a lot of new words.'

'Ah, I see,' Tsuna chuckled. 'And Bel is just a nickname?'

'Uh huh.'

Bel's POV

'Bel... I like you. I like you. I am Fran, and I like you.'

'I like you too, Fran... shishi...'

'Bel... you are not hurt, are you?'

'I dunno, Fran... I can't see a thing.'

'What? Why?'

'I don't know... help me... Fran...'

'Why?'

'I love you, Fran...'

'Why?'

'I love you... I love you...'

Fran's POV

'What on earth does that mean?' Mukuro asked, frustrated because he couldn't understand Fran's human speech.

'Why?' Fran taunted, 'Belphegor, why? I am Fran, and I do not like my brother, Mukuro.'

'Fran!' the older tadpole complained. 'You EGG!'

Fran quieted. Being called an 'egg' was the equivalent of being called brainless, spineless, and weak. To a tadpole, it was a harsh insult.

'Mukuro!' Lussuria gasped, swimming over. 'That was uncalled for!'

'He was pissing me off,' Mukuro snorted, 'I wanted him to stop.'

Lussuria looked to Fran, saw that the younger tadpole's feelings had been hurt, and glared at Mukuro. 'Ai, Russuria,' he began in messy human language, his eyes fierce, 'do hot like why brofer, Mukuro.'

Mukuro was confused, but the other tadpole paid him no mind, instead just ushered Fran away from him. 'Don't worry, Frannie, he's just being a bully,' he hushed his brother.

'I know...,' Fran mumbled, 'It's just because he's got his legs now. He thinks he's all tough...'

'That's exactly it, Frannie,' Lussuria agreed. 'Frogs are very aggressive... so we need to stick with each other, 'kay? While Spade and Mukuro grow...'

'Okay...'

Bel's POV

'I love you, Fran...'

It was all Belphegor thought of.

'I love you so much.'

It was almost as though heaven was approaching.

"Bel! BEL! Get a grip, wake up!"

'Fran...'

"BELPHEGOR! Come on, don't die! If you die... then I too..."

'Fran...!'

"Bel, can you hear me? We're gonna die if you don't wake up! Aren't we gonna rule the kingdom together? Aren't we gonna be kings? BEL!"

'Fran!'

"Please, Bel..."

-End Chapter

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><p>Phew! It was so hard not to give everything away there... Please review!<p> 


	17. Chapter 17: Rasiel's Feelings

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Seventeen

WOAH! When did I get to number seventeen? Sorry, I should really get moving on this... right?

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><p>Right after I left off, once again, and in Bel's POV<p>

Bel's eyes slowly opened, and his vision came into focus. Rasiel was knelt down beside him, and as he sat up, Bel saw the worry in his brother's eyes.

"Bel, are you okay?" Rasiel asked, "your side... and your shoulder..."

The younger prince reached a hand up and felt his shoulder, then looked at his hand. A lot of blood was on it.

"I think you passed out by falling back and hitting your head on something," Jill mumbled, before looking behind him. "You did it, though. You slit his throat just right." Bel, holding his shoulder, looked past Jill and saw that the man who had almost killed him was dead, a huge gash over his throat.

"Ushishi! Of course he's dead," Bel giggled, before realizing, 'Rasiel was so worried about me.' The prince looked over at his brother. "Jill, are we friends as well as brothers?" he asked. The older prince took a moment to be confused, but eventually replied.

"Of course we're friends. I mean, we'll have the occasional fight but... we can't live without each other."

Bel blushed lightly, embarassed at himself for telling Fran he didn't like his brother. "Jill...," he breathed, before wrapping his arms around his twin and hugging him tightly. His brother tensed, suprised, but eventually just eased into the hug, though uncertain.

"Bel...," he murmured, "We'll be together forever. So don't worry."

"I won't..."

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><p>The two princes walked back to the castle with Rasiel's cloak tied around Bel's waist to stop the bleeding of that wound, even though the shot to his shoulder was still a problem.<p>

They reentered the castle, and immediately, their recently-healed father got upset.

"Bel!" he gasped, turning on Rasiel. "What did you do to your brother, you lowlife?"

"I didn't do anything!" the older prince protested as he was violently shaken by the shoulders. Bel pulled his father away from his brother.

"Father, please!" he urged, "Jill didn't do this!"

"Then who DID?" Richard asked, releasing Rasiel, who slunk back to their room like a cat.

"One of the rioters!" Bel answered, "The ones that had guns with them!"

"Oh...," Richard began to calm down, and Bel looked worriedly back at his brother as he stepped into their room. "Well what happened?"

"They found me and attacked me, but I killed them both with my knives," Bel replied, "Jill found me hurt and passed out, and he's the reason why I woke back up."

"I see. Well, tell him I'm sorry, and then come back down for dinner," the king said, dismissing Bel. The prince walked away, a little angry.

'Oh? Did I say that I liked my parents?' he wondered bitterly, climbing up the stairs and walking into his and Jill's room.

"Jill," he called. His brother was lying in bed, curled up into a ball. The younger prince walked over to the bed and pulled himself onto it, then touched his brother's cheek. "Don't mind him, Jill, father always thinks that we're the cause of each other's pain... besides, he just recovered from that injury..."

"Bel... have you ever wanted to run away?" Jill asked, his voice quiet.

"Run away...?"

"Yeah. Just... run away, and never come back here."

"Not... particularly...," Bel mumbled, brushing his brother's bangs back, even though they were still cut short. Jill sat up, looking at his brother.

"I have."

Bel remained silent, though he felt a pang of sadness at the thought of his brother leaving. "What keeps you from running away, then?" he questioned in a low voice.

"The world I don't know... and you," Jill answered. "Since only you understand me."

Bel felt really guilty then, since he'd talked bad about Jill to Fran. The prince leaned in and kissed his brother on the cheek. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "You're right. But please stay here until the throne is ours for the taking. We're brothers, so we have to stay together."

"I know," Rasiel agreed, though he was tinted a light red from the kiss to his cheek. "Bel..."

The younger prince gazed into his brother's eyes for a moment, until he heard 'Belphegor?' in the back of his head.

"Jill...," Bel mumbled, "Fran's talking to me..."

"That's fine. Is it dinnertime?" Rasiel sighed.

"Yeah," the younger prince sighed. "We should go eat."

"Bel," his brother mumbled. Bel looked to Jill.

"Hm?"

"Thanks for being my brother," Jill said quietly. "... Usheshe."

"Ushishi."

-End Chapter

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><p>Oh sorry... that was a bit short... And how many chapters have I ended like that? It's probably because I started the next fic of the 'A Royal-' series, and new fics always get me all excited... Well... please review!<p> 


	18. Chapter 18: Dreams

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Eighteen

WOO! The chapter number is Hibari's character number! You know what that means... I'MA WORK DEATHPERATELY ON THIS CHAPTER!

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><p>Bel's POV<p>

Belphegor and Rasiel walked back down the stairs together, talking about Fran.

'Belphegor, I like you, and your brother, Rasiel.'

Everything Fran said, Bel would repeat to his brother, who smiled and laughed quietly at some things that the tadpole said.

"I am inside the water," Bel told the older prince, "and so is Lussuria. Belphegor is not inside the water- oh, no duh, I'm not- Rasiel is not inside the water. I said I like Lussuria. Belphegor said he likes Lussuria. I am Fran. Ushishi, some of the things he says are just so obvious... ah, but I'm glad he practices..."

"You've taught him quite a bit," Rasiel murmured. "Oh, but who's Lussuria?"

"Fran's brother," Bel answered, "You remember that?"

"Oh yeah, sheshe, the gay name," Jill giggled, smirking when his brother glared at him. "It really sounds gay, Bel."

"Whatever. Stop picking on him," Bel muttered. The princes headed into the dining room, where they were met by multiple servants.

"Master Belphegor, Master Rasiel, welcome," they said like robots, and the princes simply walked past them.

'I like Belphegor... and Belphegor likes me.'

'That's right, Fran.'

'I am not Froggy, I am Fran.'

Bel grinned as he sat down at the table. "So what's for dinner?"

The next day...

Fran's POV

Fran woke up slowly, and looked to his side. Tsuna was beside him. The catfish always slept close to Fran in order to protect him from whatever may be in the pond, searching for food. The tadpole quietly swam away from the catfish, across the pond to start eating early- before Mukuro woke up.

The tadpole used his mouth to drag a piece out of the usual feeding grounds, then began to eat. 'Huh. I feel hungrier than usual today,' he mused.

'Morning, Frannie,' Lussuria hummed, swimming over as well, 'My, my, I'm starving!'

'Yeah, I know what you mean,' Fran sighed, 'Is this because we-'

'Frannie!'

'What...?'

'How did you develop so fast? Your hind legs are almost completely developed!' Lussuria gaped. Fran looked at Lussuria and grinned.

'You too, Luss,' he murmured. Lussuria paused.

'R-really?'

Fran nodded. 'Yes.'

The other tadpole squealed with excitement, swimming over to Fran and nuzzling against him. 'I'm so happy, Frannie...'

Fran let himself be pushed for a moment, then swam back to his algae. 'That explains the hunger. Remember Mukuro? We had to fight him off!'

'We had to what him off?' Lussuria asked, confused.

'Fight... oh, I just said that in the human language didn't I?' Fran realized, 'Sorry, Luss, I meant we were restraining him so he couldn't reach the food.'

'Yeah...,' Lussuria agreed, looking at Fran oddly. 'You know... you're starting to use the human language unconciously. I wonder if one day, you'll have forgotten how to talk to the rest of us.'

'Don't say that!' Fran said, 'Of course I won't forget my language! That would be ridiculous...'

'It's just a thought...,' Lussuria murmured, looking away. '... Let's eat.'

'Okay...'

About an hour later...

Bel's POV

"Jill, I'm going to see Fran, you want to come with?" Bel asked his brother as he got on his jacket.

"Today? But Bel, it looks like it could rain!" Jill protested.

"You don't have to come if you don't want to~," Bel pointed out. The other prince snickered gently.

"Then you go ahead. Tell me all about it when you come back drenched."

"Ushishi! I won't get drenched. I'm a prince," Bel laughed, before walking out. "See you later."

"Later."

Bel hopped down the stairs, his 'Fran glass' in his hand. He'd decided to just use the same one every time so that it wasn't as noticable to his parents. The younger prince walked out of the castle silently, and, once he was out, he couldn't be stopped. This time, the prince wore his crown with pride, thinking arrogantly that he could slaughter anyone who attacked. Bel looked up at the gray clouds in the sky, giggled at them, then ran into the forest, his jacket flowing behind him. He raced over the path that he'd practically memorized, before skidding to a stop at the pond. He came down and dipped the glass into the water.

"Where is my Fran?" he called.

'I am h-here, Bel! I am inside the glass! Lussuria is here, too.'

"Good job, Fran," Bel praised, lifting the glass out of the water and placing it on the rocks.

"Good morning, Fran, Lussuria."

'G... good m-mo...mor-ning,' Fran returned. Bel leaned in and looked close at the tadpole.

"What's this, Fran?" he said, grinning.

'What?'

"You are becoming a frog," he hummed. Fran thought for a moment.

'Yes. My finger is here.' Belphegor fell into a giggling fit at the tadpole's attempt, and Fran looked indigant by time the prince calmed down. 'What?' he asked.

"Your legs are growing," Belphegor said.

'L-legs, yes... growing?' Fran repeated.

Bel made a gesture of something becoming bigger. "Growing."

'... O-kay.'

The prince laughed softly. "How is Luss?"

'H-how... he is growing,' Fran said after turning to his brother. Belphegor smiled.

"Yes, he is," the prince confirmed. "Oh, Fran. Yesterday, I said I did not like my brother."

'Y-yesterday...?'

"This is today. Yesterday, I said that."

'Today... yesterday... ... O-kay. ... Said? Did?'

"Today I SAY I DO like my brother. Yesterday, I SAID I DID not like my brother."

'... O-kay. Today, you like Jill?' Fran asked, 'Jill is your friend and your brother?'

"That's right. We do not fight anymore."

'Anymore... Yesterday, I said I did like Lussuria. Today, I like Lussuria.'

"You STILL like Lussuria. You liked Lussuria yesterday, and you still like him today."

'O-kay.'

"Okay."

'... Okay.'

The prince sighed and dipped his finger into the glass, smiling when the developing tadpole nuzzled against it. "Hey, Fran..."

'Yes?'

"Do you have dreams?"

'What?' Fran looked at Bel as though the prince had said something of great importance.

"Dreams...," Bel whispered, before pretending to sleep. "Dreams. When you're asleep, do you see things?"

He knew Fran didn't understand that, but when he looked back at Fran, the tadpole seemed to be frozen stiff. 'Yes. Bel, I dream... you.'

"I dream ABOUT you too, Fran," Bel said quietly.

'I dream a-bout... about you, and about me. I dream about g-growing... like you.'

"Growing into... a human?" Bel asked.

'... Yes. A h-human, like you.'

"I dream about you becoming a human, Fran..."

'Am I going to b-become a human?' Fran asked.

"I don't know...," Bel breathed.

'... Okay,' Fran seemed to have understood.

"But I hope you do..."

-End Chapter

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><p>Hehe! How about that? I hope to get your review!<p> 


	19. Chapter 19: Rain

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Nineteen

Sorry about late uploads, viruses, laptop reset, installations and updates kept me off of my computer (my dad was working on it) for four days.

Heeeere we go! Heads up- NEXT chapter, Fran's dialogue will be in quotation marks ("). :D

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><p>Right after I left off...<p>

Fran's POV

'What is it, Fran?' Lussuria asked. 'What's he saying?'

Fran shook his head. 'I-it's nothing,' he told his brother. 'Bel,' he called, 'you and me say about this not today.'

"Shishishi," the human said, "Okay, Fran, we SHOULD TALK about this TOMORROW."

'To...morrow?' Fran asked. 'Like yesterday and today?'

"Yes, tomorrow. Tomorrow I WILL talk to you."

'Talk,' Fran repeated, 'Okay. You w-will talk to me tomorrow.'

"Yes."

'... I am inside the water that is inside the glass,' Fran said, proud of himself for figuring that out.

"Yes, that is right."

Suddenly, a large drop of water landed in the glass, startling Fran and his brother alike.

"Oh, the rain must've started," the human stated, before looking back to the tadpole. "That water is rain."

'R-ra-in. Rain. It is water... but...'

"It falls," Bel stated, taking a rock and dropping it on the ground. "The rain is water that falls."

'F-falls,' Fran repeated, 'okay. It falls... but... why?'

"Why? Well, uh...," Bel didn't quite know the answer to that question himself. "I... I don't know," he said, "but it falls from the sky."

'From... the sky,' the tadpole said, looking up. 'Okay.'

"Shishishi," Bel laughed, before a rather large raindrop hit him on the head. "Uhh, Fran, I'm going to go home," he told his tadpole, "Because of the rain."

'... Okay.'

Belphegor picked up the cup and poured Fran back into the pond, and the tadpole swam with Lussuria down to the bottom of the pond, where they were both safe from the ripples on the surface.

Bel's POV

"Ahh, it's getting worse by the minute," Bel protested, covering his head. He got to his feet and began to run back to the castle, even though he stumbled (gracefully, of course) most of the way.

"Bel!" called Rasiel, "Hurry up! Father says it's the start of a thunderstorm!"

Bel hurried into the castle, dripping wet, and sighed with relief once he was inside. "Phew. I never get wet like this," he said, before giggling. Rasiel groaned, pushing the younger prince back with a finger.

"Go change, Bel, you're soaked. I told you it would rain," he muttered. Bel grinned and shook himself, causing his brother to groan once more as a bunch of water splashed him. "Bel!" he repeated, "Go CHANGE!" The younger prince stood up tall, knowing that he'd successfully pissed his brother off.

"You're so grouchy," he snickered as he headed back for their room.

"As if I don't have any reason for that," Rasiel mumbled behind him. Bel just laughed again as he walked up the stairs, before he paused and told Rasiel,

"By the way... he knows about rain now. I'm working on time, too."

"... Good work."

Bel hopped up the stairs and into his and Jill's room, then looked out the window. 'I wonder how much Fran knows about his own surroundings. Maybe I could try to teach him from the pond. That would be cool, but then we'd have all of his siblings and a bunch of fish that might interfere.'

'The rain falls inside the water.'

"Shishishi. Oh, Fran."

'The rain falls from the sky. It is water that falls from the sky.'

"Nice," Bel commented, before peeling his shirt off of him. Time to dry off.

Fran's POV

'Lussuria,' Fran called to his brother.

'Oh, Frannie,' Lussuria sighed, 'You always say my name in the human language now...'

'I thought you liked it,' Fran pointed out.

'Say it in our language. Just once.'

'Lussuria.'

'No... Fran...,' Lussuria whispered, 'That's still HIS language.'

'... Sorry,' Fran apologized, 'I don't remember.'

'It's okay, Frannie," Lussuria murmured, 'it's okay. Let's go get something to eat again. These legs are really taking up energy.'

'I know what you mean,' Fran agreed, 'it's crazy.'

The two swam over to a patch of algae and began to eat, when Tsuna swam over. 'Hello, Fran,' he greeted, 'What did you learn today?'

'I learned about the water-drops that have been making the surface so rough,' Fran told him, 'It's called rain.'

'Very good,' the catfish praised, 'Did he tell you why it falls?'

'No,' Fran said, a bit disappointed about the matter.

'I'll tell you,' Tsuna said, 'It's because we need to replace the water in the pond, and the plants around us need water to grow.'

'Oh, that's it?' Fran asked. 'So the rain just falls because... we need it to?'

'Yes,' Tsuna agreed, 'Without rain, the pond would dry up...'

'Oh my,' Lussuria hummed, 'That would be awful.'

'It would,' Lambo agreed, swimming over, 'Sorry to interrupt, guys.'

'That's okay,' Fran said, 'We're all friends.'

'If the pond were to dry up, not only would all the plants die, but we would die too. Unlike frogs, fish like Tsuna and I are stuck swimming in the water for our whole lives. Still, you guys wouldn't be very healthy without water. Remember this, Fran, everything needs water to live.'

'Everything?' Fran repeated, 'Even humans?'

'Probably,' the minnow agreed, 'I mean, foxes, birds, fish, frogs, lizards, turtles, all of those drink water. So why wouldn't humans?'

'You have a point,' Tsuna agreed, 'Such diverse creatures, and all of them need water...'

'Maybe I should ask Belphegor if he drinks water,' Fran said. 'I wonder if he can hear me from here... since I'm obviously not talking to him when he hears me...'

'Try it,' Tsuna said, 'I mean, he might not reply immediately, but it would be nice if he heard you.'

'I'll try,' Fran agreed, before saying, 'Belphegor, do you d... dur... dri-nk water?'

There was a silence, but it was soon broken by a single word, "Yes."

'Oh, he heard me,' Fran told everyone, 'he said that he does.'

'Woah. I can hardly believe he heard you,' Lambo said, 'I didn't hear anything...'

'I heard it like I hear my thoughts,' Fran told them.

'Okay,' Tsuna said, 'You two must have some sort of connection... something beyond comprehension.'

'Yeah...,' Lambo agreed. 'Something that we wouldn't understand.'

'I don't even understand it,' Fran admitted, 'but I feel like Belphegor and I... are really close.'

'How close?' asked Lussuria, starting to look a little flustered.

'So close... we're almost like... mates,' Fran admitted, feeling hot all the way to his gills.

'Now, now, Fran, don't get carried away,' Lambo said, 'Only those of the same species can be mates, and you aren't human.'

'... Right,' Fran said, before thinking, 'Then, it must be destiny.'

-End Chapter

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><p>Well, there we go. Phew... please review! I could reeeaaally use some nice, long reviews after the stress of the malware and the stupid take-an-hour update! Haha...<p> 


	20. Chapter 20: Territory

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Twenty

0 This is my first time writing to chapter twenty (or nineteen for that matter) on a fanfiction~! I mean, "Viper or Mammon?" (Don't read it, it sucks) was 8 chaps, and then every fic in my 'A Royal-' series is 18 chaps. But this one... All the way up to twenty! *whistles and applaudes self*

Anyway, we're finally giving Fran quotation marks! (") So don't be suprised by it!

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><p>Three days later...<p>

Bel's POV

"Bel! I am inside the glass!"

"Good morning, Fran," Bel said, taking the cup and placing it on the rocks.

"Good morning, Bel," Fran returned, looking up. "The sky is pretty today."

"Yes, there are a lot of clouds in the sky today," Bel agreed.

"Clouds... those are the white spots, right?" Fran asked, looking back at the prince. Bel nodded.

"Those also make rain."

"Uhh, what does 'make' mean?" the growing frog asked.

"Hm... Well, you are growing into frogs, and frogs make tadpoles. Does that make sense?"

"Frogs make eggs," Fran snorted, "Not tadpoles."

"Alright, fine, eggs," Bel muttered, rolling his eyes. "I thought you didn't like that word..."

"Hey, Bel, Lussuria is not here today," Fran pointed out, "Can we talk about dreams?"

"Oh, right, we should," the prince agreed, "Okay, so in the dreams I have, I hear a voice talking about you."

"You hear... a what?"

"Voice. It's not an object like a tadpole or human, but a sound... Uhh, you hear MY voice."

"Your voice... so it is the sound of an object?" Fran asked, before making a sort of bad attempt at a croak. "Like that?"

"Ushishishi~, you shouldn't do that, Fran, you might hurt yourself," Bel scolded, folding his arms.

"No I won't!" Fran protested, "I'm a frog!"

"Uh, try almost," Bel snickered. "You still have a tail."

Fran looked indigant at that remark, before he made a move to leap out of the glass. He managed to grip the rim with his undeveloped front legs, but when he tried to scramble out, he just fell backwards into the water again. "Damn," the frog cursed. Bel began to laugh uncontrollably at that, before saying,

"Fran... don't- ushishi- don't say that! Shishishi~, you're too young for that."

"I am not! In a few days, I'll be your age!" the frog said, before he and Bel realized that, in a few days, Fran might... turn into a human?

"Shishishi, alright, I'm going to have to teach you more, and fast," the prince said, coming down close to Fran's glass. "I know how to make you a human. But when the time comes, don't push me back."

"Uhh... Okay, I'm sorry, but I only got part of that," Fran said, looking away. "You know how?"

"Yes."

"How?" the frog asked.

"Shishishi, I don't know about that, Fran."

"You just said-"

"Yeah, I meant that I don't know if I should tell you," the prince said in a quiet voice.

"... Why?"

"Because I don't think you will like it," Bel told him. Fran looked right at the prince, putting his front limbs against the glass.

"Pleeeeaaaase?" he begged, something that had gotten him what he wanted several times.

"No," Bel said, "But listen. In a few days, just let me do what I have to."

"... Okay."

"Your instincts- shishi, if you have any- will tell you to run. But you cant. Okay?"

"I know, already," Fran mumbled. Bel smiled, before his grin vanished.

"Hey, you look hurt."

"Huh?" Fran asked, trying to look himself over for injuries.

"On your side. Did you swim into something?"

"It was my brother," Fran recalled. "S...spa-a-de."

"Spade?"

"And M...mukuro, too," the frog said, "they hurt me."

"Shishishi, should I hurt them back for you?" the prince asked, drawing out a knife."

"No," Fran said instantly, "They can't stop themselves. They're frogs, so they... uhm... they are... uhh... it starts with a 'te' sound... te-rr... terri... ugh..."

"Territorial?" Bel guessed, and Fran nodded.

"Yes, that," he said, "They want to drive out the other frogs. And then, they'd fight with each other..."

"Oh? But you guys tried so hard to live this long," Bel sighed.

"I know. But only the s-strongest frogs can stay," Fran mumbled. "So... I want to become human as soon as possible."

"Okay," Bel agreed, "But we have to do it at the right time. So that your human body is at my age."

"Yes," Fran said, "But Bel, don't be... an-gry with them, okay?"

"Alright. Oh, I wanted to take you around the forest today."

"Huh?"

"Here," Bel said, picking up the glass. Fran swam to the bottom where there was the least movement, and looked at Bel curiously.

"Are we leaving the pond?" he asked.

"Just for a little bit," Bel told him. "I want to teach you some new things before you become a human."

"Okay," Fran said, and Bel held the glass next to a tree.

"Do you know what this is?"

"I know the frogs' word," Fran said, swimming to the surface and croaking again.

"Fran! Stop that," Bel said, "It's a tree, okay? A tree."

"Tree," Fran said, "This is b... boring."

"Aw, I didn't want you to learn that word," Bel protested, "Try to find intrest in this so that you know a lot."

"Fine. That's a tree, that's the ground, this is water, that's the sky, you are Bel, I am Fran," the frog said. "Are we done now?"

"No."

"Ugh..."

"Stop that! Man, you sure have an attitude," the prince growled, "Froggy."

"It's Fran," the frog protested, clawing at the glass. Bel rolled his eyes and walked further, indicating to the plants on the ground.

"Flowers, bushes, that's grass, and those are ferns."

"Flo-wers, bushes, grass, ferns," Fran repeated.

"Now listen up, Fran, I'm going to show you my place. You have to be good, alright?"

"Uh huh," Fran said, finally becoming intrested in the topic. "Can I talk?"

"I won't be able to answer, but you can talk to me," Bel said, walking up to the castle. "Here it is."

"It's huge," Fran commented, "How many humans are here?"

"Hmm... I don't know," Bel said, "Because we have a lot of humans that serve us."

"Serve... tell me about that later," Fran said. Bel nodded, opening the door a crack, before walking inside. He looked around, and, when he saw his brother, he whistled, getting the other princes attention. Rasiel hopped up off of the couch and walked over, looking suprised to see the frog.

"Bel, why did you bring him here?" he asked.

"To show him around, I'll only be in our room, though. Where are our parents?"

"At a meeting. You better be quick. They should be back in about twenty minutes."

"Got it."

"Good morning, Jill!" Fran greeted. Bel passed the message to his brother, and Rasiel laughed softly.

"Good morning, Fran," he said. Fran swam a circle around the glass, before the younger prince hushed him and started for the stairs. He climbed up them and opened the door to his and Bel's room, closing the door behind him.

"Well, Fran, welcome to my room."

-End Chapter

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><p>I wrote so quickly because I got reviews, and I liked them! Hehe, sorry if that was a bit of a cliffhanger, or if it was just too short. I'll work on the next chapter after I post the next of 'A Royal Summer.' Until then, please review!<p> 


	21. Chapter 21: Love

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Twenty-one

WOOHOO! Uhh, sorry, I'm a bit hyper at the moment.

HEADS UP: In FRAN'S point of view, other frogs have quotation marks, but Bel, obviously, can't hear anything but croaks.

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><p>Fran's POV<p>

Fran looked around the room, suprised at how much of the human's room was the same color as blood. "Were human's hurt here?" he asked. Bel arched a brow.

"No?"

"Oh...," Fran sighed, confused. "This place is very red."

"Oh! Sorry, Fran, it's not blood," Bel said, "It's just the color of the fabrics."

"F... fa-brics?" Fran repeated. 'Ugh, another one that has that two-pieced layout...,' the frog thought. Bel held up a piece of 'fabric' to the frog, and said, "Do you want to come out so you can feel it?"

"Come out? Sure... but not for a long time," Fran said, climbing onto the human's finger and letting himself get set down on the bed. He croaked.

"I really think you shouldn't try to do that at your age," Bel sighed.

"Well you shouldn't try to 'shishishi' at your age," Fran snapped.

"Ushishi, Fran, that's just how I laugh," the prince said.

"What's a 'laugh'?" the frog asked, climbing around on the bed. "And this is really soft. Like algae. But it's not inside water."

"A laugh... well, that's probably something you'll understand better when you're human," Bel told the Fran, "Let me know when you need to get back in the water."

"I want to swim onto your fingers, Bel," the frog said, standing near the edge of the bed. Bel held out his hand, and let Fran climb up.

"Hop onto my fingers. You swim when you're inside water."

"'Hop' sounds wierd," Fran mumbled, standing in the human's palm. "Tell me how I become human."

Bel sighed. "I said no, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did. But I want to find out."

Bel held up his hand so that the frog was millimeters away from his face. When Fran took a step back, Bel lowered his hand again. "See, you won't like it."

"Oh, th-that's part of it?" Fran said, "I'm fine. I can do that. Really!"

"Shishishi, just wait for the right time, Fran," Bel said. Suddenly, Rasiel ran into the 'room.'

"Bel! Mother and Father are done with their meeting already! What are you doing?"

Bel placed Fran back in the glass, ignoring Fran's croak of suprise, and stood. "Alright, Fran, we have to get out of here."

"Why?"

"Because my parents... they probably won't like you," Bel said quietly. Fran was a bit hurt.

"Then... will they like me when I'm human?" he asked.

"... I don't know," the human returned.

Bel's POV

'Yes, would my parents accept a random human in the pure, royal bloodline?'

Bel walked out the door of the castle, Rasiel following him, and nodded to Rasiel. "Sorry, Jill, but..."

"I know, go on ahead," Rasiel said, "I'll stay back here."

"Thanks," Bel said, before taking off for the forest, Fran freaking out in his glass. Bel slowed down once he got up to the pond, and set Fran's glass down, panting.

"Kero."

Bel, for a second, was positive that Fran's mother had come back from the dead, but, instead, he saw Lussuria, only halfway out of the pond, looking hopeful.

"Fran, can your brother Lussuria join us?" he asked.

"Oh, sure," Fran said, "Mukuro and Spade probably hurt him, too..."

Bel held his hand out to Lussuria, and the older frog let out a croak that was high pitched, sounding almost like a squeal, before he hopped up into the prince's hand. Bel smiled, letting the frog slide into the glass beside Fran, and the two of them had a quick conversation, before both undeveloped frogs looked back to the prince.

"So, Fran, what should we talk about?"

"Luss wants to ask about Jill."

"Jill? What about him?"

The two talked for another moment, before Fran said awkwardly. "He's asking what Jill likes."

"Uh- ushishi- he likes... well... gold, he likes gold things," Bel said, "Fran, gold is like a shiny, metallic yellow. Okay?"

"Got it," Fran said, before passing the message onto his brother. He looked back. "Anything else...?"

"Hm... I don't know, he likes roses- uhm, I'll be right back."

Bel ran over to a rosebush and gingerly snapped one of the red blossoms off of it, before walking back to Fran and his brother. "These. Roses."

Lussuria seemed intrested, and he told Fran something else. "Okay, uhh, Lussuria says that he wants you to tell your brother that he likes him." Lussuria added something, and the two got into a mini arguement, before Fran gave in and said, "A lot."

"Ushishi, I'll tell him that," Bel said, thinking it was simply adorable that one of Fran's brothers seemed to have a crush on his own. Lussuria settled down after that, apparently at peace having given his little confession.

Fran's POV

"Oh, I can't wait to hear his repsonse~," Lussuria sang.

"Luss, are you serious?" Fran asked.

"If you can love a human, why can't I?" Lussuria pointed out. Fran felt his entire body heat up with embarassment at his brother's suggestion.

"We're both males, Luss, I don't love him."

"What are you saying? Isn't Bel's brother a male too?" the other frog said. Fran looked away.

"That's wierd."

"Well, I don't exactly mean... like... MATES, Fran, but you know... really, really close friends," Lussuria suggested.

"That sounds like a mate to me," Fran argued.

"W-well!" Lussuria pouted, "It's not! Besides, you heard what mother used to tell us. The story of the hawk and the frog who loved each other, even though they were sworn enemies..."

"You're such a sucker for forbidden romances," Fran sighed.

"And my brother is IN ONE!" Lussuria said dramatically.

"It's not romance, it's...," Fran trailed off, not quite knowing his and Bel's relationship. "It's... it's just not romance."

Lussuria looked perplexed. "I'm sure you have more than friendship to be this close," he croaked in a small voice.  
>"Hey, Fran," Bel called, pointing out to the pond, "Who's that?"<p>

He was pointing to a fully grown frog who was resting on the lillypad that their mother used to sit on. Fran and Lussuria seemed to sigh in unison, and Lussuria kero'd the frog's name at the same that Fran grumbled,

"Spade."

"He's one of the frogs that hurt you two?" Bel asked. Fran nodded.

"But it's just instinct. He's actually afraid of humans."

"Is that so...," Bel hummed, lying down on the ground and watching the other frog, who seemed to be watching the three of them with extreme intrest. But Spade couldn't take the human's stare, and within seconds, he had leapt back into the pond.

"Fran," Lussuria whispered, "Spade's probably going to be mad with us for having Bel over."

"Shh," Fran said, "I don't want him to find that out. I don't want to... hurt his feelings."

Lussuria nodded. "I don't want to hurt ANYONE's feelings," he said.

"Thanks, Luss," Fran said. "For everything."

-End Chapter

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><p>Omigawsh, what is this inspiration? Yoko-chan! Slap me! Before I write another chapter today!<p>

Please Review!


	22. Chapter 22: The Mating Grounds

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Twenty-Two

Man, no one slapped me. So now I'm up at four-eighteen in the morning, read the next chapter of the KHR manga and lol'd my head off, can't get back to sleep, so I'll write. XD Someone help me...

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><p>Bel's POV<p>

"Alright, Fran, it's about lunch time for me," Bel said, "So I'll take my leave for today."

"Okay," Fran said, and Bel dipped the glass into the pond again, letting both frogs swim out before he began to head back to the castle. Rasiel was waiting by the door for him.

"Hey, Jill, I have a message for you from Lussuria," Bel said as he set the glass down in the grass.

"Really? What is it?" Rasiel asked.

"He says he likes you. A LOT," Bel told him, grinning. Rasiel rolled his eyes.

"Come on, let's go eat lunch."

"Ushishi, are you blushing?"

"No, I'm not. Come on."

Fran's POV

"Hey, you two," called Mukuro, swimming over. Fran and Lussuria cowered in unison, and Mukuro gave the two of them a hard stare, before saying, "I thought we told you two to tell off the human. This is mating ground now."

"As if YOU'LL find a mate," Lussuria scoffed, "No female would want to hang out with a huge jerk like you!"

"Yeah," Fran agreed, though he was nervous, "Spade either."

"For your information, we haven't started giving the mating call yet because there's still too many of... YOU guys here," Mukuro said as Spade swam over.

"We're not giving the call until we give you guys the boot."

"You're just lucky I'm waiting for you to lose your tails," Mukuro grunted, before swimming away, Spade following closely.

"Oh, those two," Lussuria groaned. "Come on, Fran, let's go talk to Tsuna about them. Tsuna'll help us."

"No, no, we can't do that," Fran said, "That will just make us look bad. Using a big fish to hurt our brothers..."

Lussuria sighed. "I suppose so..."

The next day...

Fran woke up beside his brother, and almost immediately, he had to swim up for air, which was a good sign. His brother surfaced shortly after him, and both frogs swam to the rocks, where they got out and sat there for a while.

"Phew, we must be able to stop using our gills now," Fran said, glancing at his brother. Lussuria nodded.

"Frannie, do I still have some tail?"

Fran looked at his brother, and said, "Not a lot. I think you'll have lost it by tomorrow. What about me?"

Lussuria thought for a moment. "I think you've got two days left to completely lose it, but tomorrow it will be really small anyway."

"So, almost gone tomorrow?"

"Mmhm."

'Then tomorrow's the day,' Fran thought, 'Since Bel's still a young adult too.'

"Hey, Frannie," Lussuria said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think I'll get driven out tomorrow?" he asked, trailing his front legs over the rocks. "Since I'll have lost my tail by then..."

"... I don't know," Fran said, "but I overheard a couple of the other frogs talking about Spade and Mukuro fighting. Maybe they'll fight each other before they get rid of the rest of us."

"That would be nice. One of them isn't as scary as both," Lussuria said, stepping back so that the pondwater would partly submerge him.

"Lussuria," Fran spoke, "Tomorrow, wait on these rocks. I want you to see something."

"Hm? What is it?"

"I don't quite know, but I'll tell you that it'll probably be the most amazing thing you've ever witnessed."

"Really...," Lussuria breathed. "I can't wait."

"Hey, maybe, once there's only one frog bullying everyone, Bel could shoo him away," Fran said, "So that you can live here peacefully..."

"Mother said we shouldn't mess with the natural order," Lussuria murmured. Fran gave a grunt, before muttering,

"Don't you think we've messed around with the natural order a lot anyway?"

"... We sure have," Lussuria agreed, "and it's been the most fun I've ever had, Frannie. I'm so glad we're brothers."

Fran moved a front flipper on top of Lussuria's, a human gesture that was supposed to comfort. "Lussuria, it doesn't matter what happens, I'm going to help you and the others stand up to Mukuro."

Lussuria looked at his brother, and somehow, he knew that something big was going to happen. Something that made the natural order seem like a silly rule that was only meant to be broken.

Bel's POV

"Bel... Bel, wake up," Rasiel said, shaking his brother gently.

"Nng, Fran...," the younger prince whined in his sleep, and Rasiel groaned, considering the risks of stabbing his twin. It probably wouldn't turn out very well.

"Hey, Bel, look, it's a frog," the older brother whispered. Bel sat up immediately, shouting out,

"WHERE?"

"Usheshe, nice. Now I know how to wake you up," Rasiel snickered. The other prince glared at him.

"I was dreaming," he pouted.

"Great to know. Get up, Mother's calling."

"Breakfast?" Bel asked, getting out of Bel lazily.

"Yeah."

Bel suddenly noticed something. "Hey, Jill."

"Hm?"

The younger prince pushed up his brother's bangs, and frowned. "So it left a scar," he breathed. Jill winced as the younger brother brushed a thumb over the mark, before batting him away.

"Come on, that hurts," he protested, "Bel..."

"I didn't think it would scar," Bel said, smiling, "... I gave you this injury when I'd first met Fran."

"Yeah...," Rasiel recalled, "It was nice back then. Fran wasn't talking to you."

"Hey," Bel complained, "I like having him talk to me."

'And just you wait until I bring him home as a human,' he added silently.

"Shesheshe," Jill giggled, "I'm sure you do."

"Bel! Jill! Hurry up!"

"Come on," Jill said, "before she gets angry and counts to three."

Bel laughed at the overused method and got dressed.

The princes walked downstairs and grinned in sync as they said, "Yes, Mother?"

"Oh, you two," she sighed, "Breakfast."

Bel and Jill followed her into the kitchen, both giggling over their morning that, so far, had gone smoothly.

Fran's POV

"Hey, you two," said another frog, climbing up to join the pair. "Mind if I hang here?"

"Oh, sure you can, Chikusa," said Fran. Lussuria looked wary.

"Weren't you in Mukuro's crowd?" he said uncertainly.

"I was," Chikusa agreed, "but he and Spade are fixed on the 'no brothers' policy. Me and Ken have been thinking of just leaving on our own as soon as we can."

"Don't do that," Fran said, "Don't be so reckless. It's better to get attacked by brothers instead of hawks or foxes."

"Or minks," Lussuria added.

"Yeah, there's a lot of danger out there other than our brothers," Fran said, "So you may as well stay."

Chikusa sighed and lied down. "It's not like we're the strongest of the bunch anyway."

"Well, neither is Luss or myself," Fran told them, "We're all weaker than THEM. But you know, if all the frogs teamed up against Mukuro and Spade, we'd probably be able to drive them out and live together."

"Don't you get what we're fighting for, Fran?" Chikusa asked.

"Mating ground, right?" Fran said.

"Yes. If we were to all stay, we'd fight over the girls, the pond would be overcrowded, don't you remember? Father left right after we all hatched," the other frog said. "So that Mother would have enough room to feed herself between all of OUR feedings. If there were so many frogs and tadpoles here, we'd all die of starvation."

"Chikusa, Father didn't leave," Lussuria whispered. "He was carried off, wasn't he?"

"Mukuro made that thing up to scare you lot," Chikusa muttered. "When we were tadpoles."

"Oh...," Lussuria murmured.

Suddenly, all three frogs heard footsteps, and Chikusa fled for the pond, while Fran and Lussuria stayed behind. Belphegor took a seat on the rocks, and gasped when he saw the frogs.

"Fran? Lussuria? You two are out here and not in the water!" he exclaimed, "You aren't adults already, are you?"

"No, Bel, but...," Fran trailed off, then said, "Tomorrow. Tomorrow we have to do it."

Bel fell silent, and nodded. "Right. Because tomorrow, it looks like... your tail will be almost completely gone..."

"And let's do it here, because I want Lussuria to see it," Fran said, looking at his brother. Bel nodded again, then shuddered.

"I can hardly wait, Froggy," he said, "I'm so excited."

-End Chapter

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><p>Oh no, my B26 senses are tingling... *looks at clock* 5:26 AM. ... Woo! It only took an hour to finish this! *parties* Oh, crap, how am I gonna work on the human scene... I've barely thought of it, I didn't think it would come so fast... *GASP*<p>

PLEASE REVIEW!


	23. Chapter 23: Human

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Twenty-three

Woo! *looks at clock* 8:26. DX I'm going crazy! Yesterday I was seeing it like crazy, and it's happening again! Anyway, I'm going for twenty-six now, and I don't know whether twenty-six will be a bonus chapter, or if I'll add a chapter for 27. Either way, I'm so excited! Because in this chap, I get to write about... *squeal!*

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><p>The next day...<p>

Bel's POV

Belphegor opened the closet and pulled out a change of clothes.

"What are you doing?" Rasiel asked. Bel glanced at him.

"You'll find out eventually," he said in a quiet voice, wrapping the change of clothes in his own jacket. "I'm going to see Fran."

"Bel, are you okay?" his brother pressed, "You look like you have a fever or something."

Bel grinned. "Just be patient, okay?"

Rasiel was very confused, but he nodded with agreement as his brother walked out. Bel hopped down the stairs, no glass in his hand, and snuck out the door, then ran at full speed for the forest. He felt the sounds of the forest fill him as he raced into the trees, the chirps of the birds, the rustling of the leaves, it was magical. Just like the day he had met Fran.

He saw the pond and stopped, panting, then knelt down beside it. Fran was waiting for him, Lussuria by his side. Another frog was there too, but he was ignored. Bel held out his hand, and Fran hopped into it, then looked up at him nervously.

"Tell me how."

"Just stay still," the prince breathed, moving his hand up. He brought Fran up to his face, blushing, and closed his eyes. "I'm not going to watch, okay?"

"Don't eat me on accident," Fran muttered as he was brought in closer. Bel gulped as he met his lips to the frogs, and time seemed to come to a standstill, before everything happened at once.

The first thing Bel felt was a strong, fresh smell of the pond. His hands were met with something warm and soft that wasn't the frog's body anymore, and he felt the lips he kissed grow and change. It was so strange, yet Bel came unbearably happy when he felt that his little tadpole was turning into human. He felt cold hands on his shoulders that quickly became hotter with a mammal's warmth.

It was really happening.

Fran's POV

When his lips touched the human's, something seemed to trigger inside him, and he began to grow at a rapid pace. His eyes closed immediately as he grew out of the human's hands, and felt the ground with long, folded legs. His front legs developed the long fingers that Bel had, and his body felt something cold wrapped around it, something that reminded him of the 'fabric' Bel had shown him. His hands were placed on the human's shoulders in order to support himself.

"Kero!"

What was that? It sounded like a frog's call, but... why did it sound so unusually foreign?

Fran opened his eyes, and was startled by how much of Bel he could see. He backed up quickly, falling backwards, and he was caught by the human in a quick move. He moved a hand up and observed it, then looked back up at Belphegor. His breathing felt wierd, and his eyes showed him so much color.

"Bel...?" he breathed, before covering his own mouth.

'That sound... the wind?'

Fran looked at Bel, nervous, but the human just smiled.

"Fran, it worked. You're human."

Fran looked to the pond. "Lussuria?" he questioned, before pressing two fingers against his throat and repeating the name. "This is... my voice?" he asked Bel. The human nodded.

"And it's beautiful," he said, "To put it your way, it sounds like a bird call."

Fran blushed, before he heard that noise again. "Kero!"

He looked down. "Lussuria?" he questioned. The frog hopped onto his hand, looking at him with suprise.

"Kiero!" the frog squealed, looking at Fran. Fran smiled.

"Yes, this must be Lussuria," he chuckled, before frowning. "I don't understand him anymore."

Bel placed a hand on Fran's shoulder. "It's okay, Fran, now one second, whatever your wearing... we should change it."

Bel's POV

He was beautiful. Though the teal hair and eyes looked so strange, at the same time, they were perfect for him. His voice, too. The high, delicate, yet still a bit smug voice suited his personality very well. Bel took out the change of clothes he'd brought along, then reached to pull off what seemed to be a very thin, light green t-shirt that was soaking wet. Fran blushed darker as the thin garment was taken off, then grabbed Bel's hand when he reached for the shorts that he was also wearing. Bel sighed.

"It's okay, Fran," he insisted, "We're both boys."

Fran let Bel do what he was doing, but he looked away shyly. Bel told him to stand, and Fran did so with evident hesitance, but the prince was fast to help him get dressed once more. Fran looked back at the prince. "Your parents," he murmured.

"I'll make it work," Bel muttered, "Now, anything else we should do here?"

Fran knelt down beside Lussuria and petted him on the head. "I'm leaving now, Luss," he said quietly, "but I'll come back and visit, so don't let those bullies push you around."

"Kero~," the frog hummed, nuzzling against Fran's finger. The other human stood, looking a little awkward on two legs, and glanced to Bel once more.

"I'm ready," he said. Bel took Fran's hand and brought him close, then pressed their lips together. Fran blinked a couple of times, before accepting the action and returning it. The prince weaved his fingers into Fran's hair, and smirked against his lips when the former frog carefully embraced him. Bel backed off, and whispered,

"Are going to ask me what that's called?"

"What is it?" Fran asked.

"We call it a kiss," Bel said, placing a finger on the slightly-younger man's lips. "It's what people do to the people they like. But only the people they like... a lot."

Fran blushed again, and Bel thought it was really cute that the other human was terrible at controlling the blood rushing to his cheeks. "Bel...," he murmured. The prince grinned.

"Come on, shall we go back to my place?"

Fran nodded, squeezing the prince's hand tightly. "I'm ready," he said again.

Fran's POV

Walking in the human body was harder than Fran had anticipated. He stumbled quite a few times, quietly thanking Bel whenever the prince helped him up. They approached the castle, and Bel came up to the door and knocked. Rasiel opened the door, then froze.

"Bel?"

"Shishishi, yes?"

"Who's that?" Rasiel asked, indicating to Fran, who looked a little ruffled by all of his trips. Fran blushed.

"Hi, Jill," he greeted. Rasiel grabbed Bel by his collar.

"What did you do?" he asked.

"I kissed Fran," Bel said honestly. Rasiel released his brother and turned on Fran.

"You! Are you Fran?" he asked. Fran nodded enthusiastically, too scared for words.

"What's one of your brother's names?"

"L-lussuria," Fran said.

"What did he want Bel to tell me?"

"That he likes you a lot," Fran answered. Rasiel calmed.

"You're the real deal, aren't you?"

Fran didn't quite know what he meant, but he nodded. "I'm a frog that became a human," he said, his voice quivering slightly.

"Bel, his hair's teal. And what's up with his eyes?"

"The hair was a side-effect, and he's always had those eye markings," Bel replied. Fran reached up and brushed his lower eyelids.

"I have the markings, too?" he asked. Bel nodded. Fran thought of his mother, and his eyes began to water. Immediately, Fran paniced. "Bel! Bel, what is this? Why is water coming out of my eyes?"

"Shh, Fran, calm down," Bel hushed, reaching up to brush the tears aside. "It's okay, it just means you're thinking of something sad."

"S-something sad?" Fran repeated, looking down, "I was thinking about my mother."

"Aww, Fran, it's okay," the younger prince murmured, hugging the human. He looked to Jill. "May we come in?"

"Yeah," Rasiel said, opening the door wide, "Heh. Can't wait to see mother's face."

"What about father? He'll be pissed," Bel snickered. The princes led Fran to their room and let him sit down on Bel's bed, and Fran was able to cheer up quickly.

"Belphegor, Rasiel... you're nice," Fran murmured, "I wish all my brothers were this nice."

"Oh, Fran, don't worry, how about tomorrow we go back down to the pond and visit?" Bel asked, "If Mukuro's still giving them a hard time, we could always attack him. Ushishi."

"I said not to," Fran mumbled, "besides, now that I'm bigger than him, I won't feel that it's right to hurt him. It would be unfair."

Bel grinned. "You're such a softie," he sighed, hugging the human once more. Rasiel patted Fran on the head.

"Yeah, toughen up, Fran," he agreed.

"Bel, where are your parents?" Fran asked. Bel sighed.

"Alright, looks like your eager to meet them, so let's go."

-End Chapter

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><p>Don't worry! Unless I say 'owari', I'm still writing more chapters!<p>

But really now. Someone slap me!

PLEASE REVIEW!


	24. Chapter 24: Approval

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Twenty-Four

Omg, I totally realized my writing habits!

Beginning of fic: BOOYAH! LET'S GET GOING! *updates several times*  
>Around Chapter Three: Ugh... I'm tired... need something big to do...<br>Chapter Six: *reads reviews* I definently need to make something big happen!  
>Chapter Ten: Holy crap, I need to speed up on the plot and stop fooling around!<br>Chapter Fifteen: Meh. I have other stories to attend to...  
>Chapter Seventeen: Oh, whoops, I haven't uploaded on this in like a week...<br>Nearing climax of fic: Uwaaah! This is so much funnnn! *updates several times*  
>Resolution chapters: *sobbing*<p>

And there you have it, based on a twenty-chap outline. Reminds me of the cycle in Sekaiichi Hatsukoi. Hehe, I'll bet you didn't care.

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><p>FranBel's POV

Bel and Jill helped Fran back down the stairs, since the former frog was apparently a bit scared of heights, and it didn't help that stairs were completely new to him. Once they'd managed to get back on the bottom floor, Rasiel hopped off to find their parents, leaving Bel and Fran alone. The prince looked to his friend and reached out, caressing his cheek, and Fran looked to him, blushing slightly.

"Ushishi, you're so cute, Fran," Bel said, coming in and kissing him. Fran hugged the prince, nuzzling into his shoulder.

"Bel, I like you," he whispered. "I like you a lot."

"Fran... I love you," Bel murmured. Fran looked up at him.

"Is that... 'to like a lot'?"

Bel nodded, and Fran smiled. "I love you too, Bel."

"Alright, alright, what is it?" sighed the queen as Jill lead her in. Fran retreated from his embrace, and looked up at the woman. He smiled.

"I recognize you," he murmured.

"Well, I should hope so, I'm the queen," she returned, arching a brow. "Who are you, young one?"

"I... I am Belphegor's... friend," Fran said, bowing on instinct. Bel rolled his eyes and pulled the frog back up.

"His name's Fran," he told his mother, "Can he live with us?"

Fran looked hopefully at the queen, but she just sighed. "Bel, we can't just pick up any homeless boy off the street, okay? We're royalty."

"Mother, he's really important to me," Bel pressed, "Please?"

"W-well," she said, "How old is he?"

Bel looked to Fran, and Fran began to panic. "Wh-what do you mean?" he asked, clearly nervous.

Bel looked back to his mother. "He's just a bit younger than me," he replied for his friend.

"Hm. Well we don't need any extra mouths to feed, and, let's face it, he's a mess."

Rasiel looked Fran over, and mumbled, "Well he did just go from living in a pond to standing in a castle."

"I'll get him cleaned up," Bel said instantly. "And I'll share my meals with him."

"Bel...," Fran breathed, his eyes sparkling with gratefulness, "Thank you..."

"And where is he to sleep?" the queen challenged, folding her arms. Bel pointed to himself, grinning.

"My bed, of course."

She still seemed hesitant, and when the king walked in, already in a bad mood, the chances of Fran staying seemed to get cut down by eighty percent. "What? Who's this peasant?" the king asked, looking down at Fran like a hawk. Fran gulped and decided to hide behind Bel, who hushed him as usual.

"Father, this is no peasant, this is Fran, a good friend of mine," Belphegor said.

"A servant?" Richard asked.

"No," Bel said instantly, "Someone I care about dearly."

Fran nodded, murmuring, "I'm a friend."

"Heeh? Not a peasant and not royalty? A trader?"

"U-uhm, Bel?" Fran said in a small voice, "What does 'royalty' mean?"

"It's the top of society," Bel said, "Kind of like the top frog in the pond."

"Okay," Fran said, "Thanks."

Bel looked back at his mother, then decided to take a risk. "He's a frog."

"A... frog?" both of his parents said in unison.

"Oh, Bel...," sighed Rasiel, before making way towards the stairs. "Sorry, but your on your own now!"

Bel stabbed his brother with his eyes, before looking back to his parents. "I taught Fran how to speak in our language. Then, once he knew how to speak properly, and his frog form was almost at my age, I kissed him, and he turned into a human. That's just how it is."

"Oh, my," said the queen, fainting at the mere thought.

"Bel, you kissed a peasant that is so low that he couldn't speak, and he was filthy as a FROG?" the king raged, grabbing Bel by the collar of his shirt. Bel gave his father a level stare, while Fran thought of what he could do to help his friend.

"Father, I love him."

Richard slapped the young prince, very lightly, of course, to try and get some sense into him, but Fran took it as an attack. He came forward and took Bel back, hugging him protectively. Bel was pulled out of his father's grip, and Fran stepped im front, acting as a shield.

"I... I won't let you hurt Bel!" he said. The king looked suprised, but he soon chuckled.

"To defy a king for the sake of the prince... I'm impressed," he said, "Bel, you seem to have found a nice follower."

"Follower?" Bel repeated, hugging the frog. "How about princess?"

"Now, now, don't be too hasty, Bel, this is still a man we're talking about," the king told him, "two men cannot be together in that way."

Bel stood up tall, looking at his father. "If I can't marry Fran, I'll give the throne to Rasiel without hesitance and live in the village as a peasant," he said with confidence. His father's worst fear- aside from losing the throne- was dying without an heir, and, as he and Bel both knew, Rasiel would refuse to rule alone.

"Live... as a peasant?" the king repeated, looking perplexed. Fran gulped, scared that he was causing the prince trouble, and hugged Bel tighter.

"That's right. If it's the only way to live with Fran by my side, I'll do it," Bel pressed.

"Ugh, he can live here, but I'm going to have to think about the whole idea of you marrying a man for a while," the king decided, before going to get a glass of water to wake up his passed out wife. Fran looked to Bel.

"They... approve?"

"Ushishi, for now," Bel agreed. "Come on, let's go back up to my room."

"Okay," Fran agreed, before leaning up and kissing Bel on the cheek. "That was my thanks," he told the prince, blushing.

"You're welcome," Bel said, wrapping his arms around the frog. "Fran."

-End Chapter

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><p>Aaaaaaaaaah! Was that too short? x.x<p>

Please review! Looks like it'll be just twenty-six. D8


	25. Chapter 25: Flaws

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Twenty-Five

NOTICE: Okay, after this chapter, I'm going to have a sort of bonus chap that will have them ten years later. 8) But that will be... that will be the end. D8

And, because my previous chapter was 'too perfect', I've created some problems for this chapter. XP Again. You people rule my life.

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><p>The next day...<p>

Bel yawned and reached up to rub his eyes, then smiled at the smaller body that he held in his arms. He leaned down and kissed Fran softly on his forehead, which slowly woke the boy up. Fran looked up at Bel.

"Good morning," he said quietly.

"Morning, Fran," Bel returned. "I love you."

"I love you too, Bel."

"Nng, I feel like I'm the side character in some wierd romance novel," Rasiel whined from across the room, rolling over. Bel giggled and replied,

"Of course, the FAKE prince is a side character."

"Shut up before I stab you," Jill growled, "lame little brother."

"Ushishi, if we keep arguing, it's YOU who will get stabbed," Bel returned.

"Stop fighting!" Fran complained, "I don't like it."

"Sorry, Fran," the princes said in sync.

Fran hugged Bel and mumbled, "Humans are wierd."

"Ushishi...," Bel laughed, "We sure are."

"Shesheshe, we ought to get downstairs for breakfast," Rasiel said, getting out of bed. Bel sat up, grinning, and got out as well, before helping Fran up. The former frog yawned tiredly and leaned against Bel, before standing up tall to stretch. Bel glanced over to his brother.

"Hey, you wanna come with Fran and I to visit his brothers after breakfast?" he offered.

Rasiel rolled his eyes, smiling crazily. "Shesheshe... you know something? We have WAY too much free time," he told his brother.

"We do," Bel agreed, stroking Fran's hair with one hand. "Will you come with us?"

"Sure," Rasiel said.

After getting dressed- and helping Fran change- the three headed down for breakfast. Bel opened the door for Fran and his brother, calling into the kitchen, "Hey, what's for breakfast?"

"We have a beautiful feast laid out for us on this morning," said the queen, "We even got a present from the current ruler of France!"

"Really? What is it?" Bel asked.

"Frog legs," she replied. Fran heard that and blinked a couple times at Bel.

"She's joking, right?" he said, looking at the prince with a hard stare.

"U-uhh, Mother, no need to joke about that at this hour," Bel called to his mother, praying that she wasn't serious. She walked over.

"Bel, it's a French delicacy to eat frog legs!" she told him, "Why would I joke about breakfast?"

Fran, sickened by the idea, went pale, and walked out of the kitchen. "I- I'll skip out today!" he said, running for the door. Bel ran after him, and caught the younger boy's arm.

"She doesn't know, Fran, and neither does my father, or the ruler of France! Calm down, you don't have to eat those!" he insisted, his arms wrapped around Fran's chest.

"I'm shocked that what Lambo said was right," Fran told the prince. "He told me that humans eat frogs!"

"Who's Lambo?" the prince asked, still paniced from the struggling frog.

"He's a small fish about the size of my fully grown frog form," Fran told him. "Let me go. I'm going back!"

"You'd give me up because of a human flaw?" Bel asked, angry. Fran paused.

"I never said I'd give you up...," he murmured, his eyes watering, "You were the first one other than my mother to show me friendship...!"

"Fran...," the prince murmured, hugging the frog tightly. "Listen to me. Humans all make mistakes, okay? We don't think about what smaller animals think, just like frogs don't think about their food. It's not like we're serving you your family, either. Frogs that humans eat are much larger than the frogs in the pond."

"Bel...," the former frog whispered. "I've lost my appetite."

The prince sighed. "If you don't eat, I won't eat."

"Bel! Fran!" Rasiel called, "Are you eating or what?"

Bel looked back to his brother. "Fran's upset."

"I can imagine. But that's not all we have, you know. I mean, sure, it's mostly meat, I don't know how Fran feels about that..."

"He'd probably like other types of meat that aren't from sea animals. Like pork?" Bel suggested, still holding the frog in his arms.

"You should eat, Bel, it's okay," Fran said, pushing the prince back, "I don't need to eat."

"I told you that I won't eat if you don't," Bel muttered, "And what I say goes."

"But... I don't want to be the reason you don't eat anything...," Fran told the prince. Bel patted the former frog's head.

"It's fine," he said, "I just want you to be comfortable."

Fran blushed, then mumbled, "Fine. I'll eat."

Bel grinned. 'Reverse method works every time,' he thought in triumph, before leading Fran back into the kitchen. He glared at the servants that pampered the princes and didn't bother with Fran, taking on the role of catering Fran himself. He gave Fran a few fruits and vegetables before placing a piece of pork on his plate.

"Tell me what you like so that I know," Bel told his friend, who nodded, before looking uncertainly at his knife. Yesterday, he had been using a fork and spoon (since they had just had soup and salads the other day.) Bel sighed and cut up the meat and fruit for Fran. "Like this," he said as he cut, and Fran nodded, blushing.

"Sorry," he apologized as Bel returned his plate.

"It's fine. After all, this is all new to you," the prince said with a smile. "I'll teach you everything, so don't worry."

Fran smiled. Bel was so nice.

An hour later, At the pond...

"Alright, everyone, I've won against Spade, so you're all listening to me now!" Mukuro called across the pond. "Anyone who's challenging me, step forth." Lussuria shuffled from the rocks. He made a quick descision and decided to run. He hopped along the path that Fran had walked before, becoming nervous when Mukuro laughed. "Run while you can, good choice."

Lussuria soon came up to the castle, and began calling for Fran to help him. His croak was as loud as a mating call, but it held obvious panic. Within a few minutes, however, his voice died out, and he just waited. Soon after, Fran ran outside, and looked for him.

"Fran! Frannie, over here!" Lussuria called. Fran saw him and crouched down.

"What is it, Lussuria?" he asked. Lussuria knew that Fran didn't understand him, but his calls must've been able to portray his panic. Belphegor and Rasiel came out as well, and Lussuria started back for the pond. Fran picked the frog up and ran for the pond, slowing when he saw the many frightened frogs that looked about ready to run.

"Stop!" he called. All fell silent, and Fran let Lussuria get back in the pond as he slowed down. "Mukuro, stop," he demanded, "You can't torment everyone like this!" Mukuro, startled, hopped off the lily pad and into the water, and Fran hung his head in defeat. "If only I could get across," he growled.

"Mukuro's wrecking everything again?" Bel asked, sitting down. Fran nodded.

"It looks like he's taking over," he muttered.

Rasiel sat down beside Fran and Bel. "Sounds tough," he muttered.

Meanwhile, Lussuria was getting pestered by Mukuro.

"You purposely brought THREE humans here!" he snarled, "Are you insane?"

"It was to stop you!" Lussuria returned, "You've lost control of yourself!"

"Is that what you think?" Mukuro growled, "I'm perfectly sane! I just want all you weaklings out of MY pond!"

Mukuro chased the younger frog onto the rocks.

Rasiel noticed, and, while Fran and Bel were talking about Fran's many brothers, he picked up the frog that was chasing the other and held it close. "So you're the bad boy, huh?" he asked, grinning. He looked to the frog, and somehow knew it was Lussuria. "I'll take care of him for you," he chuckled, before looking back to Mukuro. "Fran won't let us hurt you since your so small, but I figure that I know how to make you our size..." Rasiel pressed his lips to the frogs, closing his eyes, and smirked when he felt the frog changing. His hands began to hold something in them, and the frog grew warmer, and dry. The lips against his became spiked, wait... spikes? Rasiel opened his eyes and looked at the thing in his hands. "What the hell?" he asked, suprised.

Bel looked back at Rasiel. "Why do you have a pineapple?" he asked. Rasiel blushed.

"I kissed Mukuro, but this happened!" he said.

"Why would you kiss Mukuro? You don't love him, do you?" Fran asked.

"No! No, I thought that he'd turn human, and therefore it would be okay to beat the crap out of him...," Rasiel mumbled, "but... for some reason... he turned into a pineapple!"

Fran smiled. "Well, I guess it's okay. Mukuro's obviously not a threat anymore."

"I guess so," Rasiel said, wincing at the pineapple in his hands.

Talk about creepy.

And Lussuria said, "Oh, Rasiel! You're so gallant!"

-End Chapter

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><p>I've wanted to do that since chapter fifteen! Lol. Who liked that? Anyway, next chap is last chap! D'8 Who's gonna cry with me?<p>

Please review!


	26. Chapter 26: Fifteen Years Later

The Prince and His Pet Chapter Twenty-six

GYAH! It's the last chapter! *sobbing* And this story... it's been giving me SO MUCH INSPIRATION!

DX I'm sorry about making you people wait so long for the last chapter, everything's been hectic since I flew back to my home state.

I've got an idea... oh, wait... Darn, I'm not supposed to start another fic until I've finished the purely original story that a classmate challenged me to do... *scribbles down notes for that story* Oh, wait wait wait... this is the P and his P, so I need to write this right now.

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><p>Fifteen years later...<p>

"Father," said Rose, tugging on her father's cloak. "May I go out to the pond today?"

Belphegor smiled. "Are you going to play with your tadpole again?"

Rose nodded. "I'm trying to learn how to talk with him," she told her father, her eyes bright.

Fran stepped forward and took his daughter's hand. "How about I come with you this time?" he offered. Bel laughed.

"You never change, do you dear?" he said, patting Fran's shoulder. Fran glared at Bel.

"Can't I have my fun?" he protested. Bel chuckled.

"Of course. I'll stay back here, though. Make sure you bring her back before dark," he said. Fran stood and kissed the king lightly on the lips.

"Thank you."

"You're absolutely welcome," Belphegor said, "my love."

"Jeez, mother, father, save that for later," Rose protested. Her parents laughed, before Fran took his daughter's hand and called back,

"We'll be back in time for dinner!"

"You better!" Bel returned. The two left, and Bel stood there for a moment, smiling, when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey, you," Rasiel chuckled. "I tell you, it's so stunning..."

"What is?" Bel asked, turning around.

"You'd never guess she was adopted," Rasiel told him in a low voice. "She resembles the two of you so clearly... Fran's innocence, your love of the forest... and, for that matter, Fran's obedience! We were never that polite and open to our parents."

"Yeah. And Fran doesn't care what she calls him, either. At first, Fran seemed so pissed off about being called the mother, but now he's so close to her that he doesn't care. It's nice."

"Definitely," Jill agreed, "Fran's a wonderful parent. He's tolerant, caring, and, pardon me, but he's such a child himself that he plays along with just about anything she comes up with."

"But of course," Bel laughed, "I mean, it's MY job, as the father, to be mature and tough. You know?"

"Usheshe, you play with her too, though."

"Well I'm supposed to, now aren't I?" Bel mumbled.

"Just be glad you have me to keep the kingdom on a leash while YOU'RE busy raising a child," Rasiel snickered.

"Shishishi," Bel giggled, "Well you don't have a wife, now do you?"

"I could've gotten one, but no, I don't. From the looks of Fran, it's too much work."

"Ushishishishi, a little work, yes, but it's not too difficult."

"And besides, Fran is a frog. Not too hard to win him over."

"Well, we're kings anyway," Bel reminded him, before shuffling over the couch. "I'm tired, take care of things while I'm asleep?"

"Yeah, yeah," Jill muttered, striding away as well.

In the forest...

"This way, mother," said Rose, pulling Fran along with her. Fran smiled when they came up to the pond, and knelt down beside his daughter.

"Which one is yours?" he asked. She looked around for a moment, then pointed to a small tadpole that was looking at ther patiently.

"Him," she told Fran. Fran smiled.

"Do you know his name?" he asked. "Frogs name their young, too, you know."

"They do?" Rose said, before grinning, "That's silly, mother."

"No, I mean it," Fran said, "I remember my mother had the hardest time remembering the names of all of my siblings..."

"Mother... I have a question," Rose said, "Can you talk to frogs?"

Fran smiled sadly. "No, honey."

Rose sighed. "I'll never understand him, will I, mother?"

Fran hugged his daughter close to him. "Keep trying," he whispered, "Because one day, I promise you, you will be able to talk to this tadpole as though it's a human. Okay?"

"... Okay," Rose said. "Mother, were you ever able to talk to frogs?"

"... Honey," Fran murmured, "I WAS a frog. Bel turned me into a human. I didn't want to tell you that, but it's better that you knew, now that your hanging around this pond so often..."

"Kero!" called a frog from the lilypad, hopping over. It leapt into Fran's open hand, and Fran smiled.

"Who knows? This frog here might be my distant niece," he said in a quiet voice. Rose laughed lightly.

"Maybe," she agreed, looking at the frog.

"Lussuria...," Fran breathed, "I always wonder what he named his children."

"Kerokero!" the frog croaked.

"Oh? You know that name?" Fran teased, rubbing the frog's head with a single finger. "Yes, I suppose Lussuria was the next in the line of top frog," he said.

"Oh, mother, I wanted to show you something," Rose said, "It's really cool."

"Okay?" Fran said as the frog dove back into the pond. Rose took his arm and dragged him through some bushes a small distance from the pond, and Fran's eyes widened when he saw a pineapple tree flourishing in the area that was most certainly not it's natural habitat.

"Isn't it like magic?" she said, "It's a tropical plant, but it's growing here, in Italy!"

"Yes, it's amazing," Fran breathed, before remembering that Rasiel had gone to dispose of a certain pineapple fifteen years ago, and perhaps this was... that pineapple? Fran smiled. 'Of course. Mukuro was pretty determined to have a family of his own. I never expected this to happen, of course.' Fran walked over and stroked a leaf of the plant. "Good work, brother," he congratulated.

"You're related to pineapples too?" Rose gasped. Fran chuckled.

"This pineapple used to be a frog," he told her. Rose rolled her eyes.

"Mother, now your just being crazy," she said. Fran laughed.

"Yes, dear, mother's crazy," he chuckled. Rose smiled. Her mother had such a wild imagination.

Back at the palace, fifteen minutes later...

"Ugh," grunted Rasiel, plopping down on the couch beside Bel. "Tag. Your turn."

"No way," Bel sighed, "I'm too tired."

"Shesheshe... whatever. We're kings. We deserve our rest... I guess."

"Yeah," Bel agreed.

"We're back," called Fran, stepping inside. "We've decided to call the tadpole Mammon."

"Oh? Did you come up with that name on your own?" Bel asked, standing up.

"We had our help," Fran chuckled, "Rose felt that it was the right name."

"I see," Bel said, walking over and hugging his queen. "Well it's very nice name."

"Indeed," Fran agreed.

"Tell him about the tree, mother," Rose told Fran, who nodded.

"There's a pineapple tree growing in the forest," he told Bel, looking at him pointedly.

"Is that so?" Bel breathed, before grinning, "Sounds like quite an odd plant to be growing here."

"It grew?" Rasiel asked, walking over. "I'm suprised that it managed to survive this long in Italy."

"Well, Jill, who knows?" Bel said, "There might of been a little magic involved."

Rose looked around at the three, rolled her eyes again, and poked her father in the stomach. "Come on, it's dinner time," she pointed out.

"Ushishi, you're absolutely right," Bel laughed. Rasiel grinned.

"Yeah, let's go have dinner."

"Bel," Fran said, taking his lover's hand. Bel glanced back at him.

"Yeah?"

Fran came in and kissed him, just long enough for both of them to enjoy it. "I love you," Fran murmured.

Bel embraced the other. "I love you too, Fran."

-Owari

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><p>I HAD to end it in a cliche moment. So sorry, peoples, I didn't mean to! At least it's long, right? Haha... I hope to read your reviews for my future stories! *tosses cookies to reviewers*<p> 


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